Some 90 volunteers with Rabbis for Human Rights were detained by the IDF in the West Bank on Wednesday, including congressional nominee Brad Lander (D-NY), sources told The Jerusalem Post.
"Following a joint investigation and review conducted by police investigators in coordination with the Foreign Ministry and relevant security and law enforcement agencies, 32 activists were questioned and released subject to restrictions prohibiting them from returning to the area," Israel Police said on Wednesday evening.
"In addition, the questioning of four foreign activists has been completed following the identification of their anti-Israel activity online. Some had also expressed support for organizations opposed to Israel," police continued.
"The remaining 40 individuals who had been detained were released from the police station during the afternoon after no grounds for further detention were found," police said.
Police initially took the foreign volunteers to the Etzion Regional Brigade headquarters for questioning, a source at the scene told the Post earlier on Wednesday. Sources added that no one was harmed in the incident.
"The police intend to complete the investigation into the four foreign nationals and transfer them to the Population and Immigration Authority tomorrow (Thursday) for hearings regarding their removal from Israel," the police said.
Authorities are inclined to deport the foreign activists, a source at the scene had told the Post earlier on Wednesday.
Lander was specifically released with a warning, he noted in a statement.
"I’ve been released from IDF custody with a 'warning,' apparently because of my public profile (I told them I wasn’t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee)," he wrote.
"But several dozen rabbis & participants harvesting olives with me are still in detention. For harvesting olives. They should all be released immediately," he said, adding that "Palestinians face far worse consequences every day."
Rabbis for Human Rights activists detained in West Bank
Rabbis for Human Rights said the volunteers worked in the village of Nahalin near Bethlehem, accompanying Palestinian farmers to groves during the olive harvest. According to the left-leaning activist group, Palestinian farmers in the area had been unable to access the groves for three years. Authorities say that olive harvesting in the area is prohibited without coordination with security services.
The IDF arrived two hours after the volunteers had begun working and declared the field a closed military zone. Activists told the Post that they complied with the military orders and agreed to leave the area, but were still detained.
KAN News later reported that the area that the volunteers were harvesting in does not require prior coordination with the IDF.
In a statement hours after the incident, the IDF said that the activists did not submit a request to harvest in advance.
"The landowner was informed that he must coordinate the olive harvest on his plot of land and was provided with the relevant contact information to arrange a harvest at a later date," the IDF said. "In areas designated for coordinated harvesting, only harvesters will be permitted to enter, solely for harvesting."
The IDF's Arabic Spokesperson's unit said that it will "not allow inciting elements to exploit civil activity to provoke violence or create disturbances. The olive harvest season is an agricultural activity; it must not be transformed into a period of violence and conflict."
The activist added that they did not get a response from the IDF, and that the group mainly corresponded with the owner of the olive grove because it is located on private property.
Leadership from Rabbis for Human Rights said that their work in the West Bank was peaceful, and that it was the organization's policy to comply with IDF orders.
"We came to accompany farmers to land they had been unable to access for three years, and after two hours of peaceful olive harvesting, large numbers of troops arrived and closed off the area. No one could have known about this order in advance. Instead of protecting people working their land, the army is keeping them away from it and detaining those who came to accompany them for identification,” acting executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights Anton Goodman said.
“The fact that Israeli and American rabbis are compelled to stand alongside Palestinian farmers to help them harvest their olives and protect them from settler violence is a damning indictment of the Israeli government. The fact that these same rabbis are detained by security forces, rather than the authorities protecting the farmers and taking action against those perpetrating the violence, is nothing short of a disgrace," said Dr. Yizhar Hess, Vice Chairman of the World Zionist Organization.
"But today’s events are not merely a moral failure; they are also a devastating blow to Israel–Diaspora relations. As a Zionist and as a Jew, I want to remind us all: a Jewish and democratic state is judged not only by its ability to protect its citizens, but also by how it treats those living under its control. We must not accept a reality in which those who act in the name of justice are arrested, while those who resort to violence enjoy de facto impunity. These values are not at odds with Zionism; they are the very values without which Zionism loses its soul," Hess added.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called for the end of what he called genocide and occupation at the hands of the Israeli government, along with the release of several activists affiliated with Rabbis for Human Rights.
“Today, Brad Lander, rabbis, and other New Yorkers accompanied Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest. For that, they were detained by the Israeli government,” he wrote, specifically noting that Lander was released by Israel Police.
“Harvesting olives is not illegal. The occupation is. The same Israeli government detaining them has committed a horrific genocide against Palestinians, killing more than 74,000 people over the last few years alone.
“The detention of these New Yorkers must end. The occupation must end. The genocide must end.”
Left-wing Jewish organizations, leaders decry detainment of activists assisting Palestinian farmers
Schoffman posted a message to X/Twitter as he was being detained, and noted that there was no confrontation with the soldiers or with any settler extremists in the area.
In response to reports that Israeli authorities are inclined to deport the foreign activists, Democrats MK and Rabbi Gilad Kariv called for Jewish organizations in Israel and the Diaspora to intervene.
"According to the information we have, the police and military are seeking to deport the dozens of Jewish volunteers from North America who came today to assist with the olive harvest in Gush Etzion. Among this group are prominent and influential rabbis, community leaders, and public figures," he wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
"I call on the leaders of the Jewish Agency, the heads of Jewish organizations in the US, and AIPAC leadership to intervene in this madness. I have no expectations of Ben-Gvir, Katz, or Netanyahu, but it is time for us to stand up against the terrible damage they are causing to the Jewish world and Israel's standing internationally."