Congressional candidate Brad Lander said Wednesday that the Israel Defense Forces detained him in the occupied West Bank while he was participating in an olive harvest.

Lander, who is running in New York’s 10th District, said in an interview that he was later released with a warning.

Lander, a former New York City comptroller, said he was harvesting olives for Palestinians in the West Bank along with more than 40 international volunteers, including Americans, and 28 Israelis, who were affiliated with a coalition of human rights groups. Israeli authorities told him that his actions were illegal and that the group had been “causing a disturbance of public order,” he said.

Brad Lander, who shared this image of himself on a bus, has been more critical than his opponent of Israel’s government and the war in Gaza, which he has said is a “genocide.” @brad.lander / Instagram

“But I assure you, all we were doing was harvesting olives,” he said.…