Brad is a liar…. HIS own earlier posts confirm the purpose was not neutral farming: the trip aimed “to help protect the olive harvest — and to shed a light on the reality of the occupation” and counter what he calls “state-sanctioned settler terrorism.” It was organized activism. “Simply harvesting olives… isn’t a crime under any law I know.”
Olive harvesting itself is not a crime. Remaining in (or entering) a declared closed military zone after being ordered to leave is an offense under the military orders that govern Area C. Foreign nationals can be detained, processed, warned, or deported for violating those rules or entry conditions. The group’s account is that they agreed to leave but were still held for checks and transport. That is standard procedure for a large uncoordinated group of activists in a restricted area, not a novel crime of “picking olives.” Similar detentions of RHR and other activist groups occur regularly during harvest seasons when zones are closed over security assessments. “The occupation is a crime under international law.”
This is contested political rhetoric, not settled law. The territories were captured in the 1967 defensive war. Jordan’s prior control of the West Bank was not widely recognized as legitimate sovereignty. Israel maintains they are disputed territories with deep historical Jewish ties, not “occupied Palestinian land” in the sense of an illegal conquest from a prior legitimate sovereign. 
The Oslo Accords (accepted by the PLO) left Area C under Israeli jurisdiction. Multiple Israeli offers of statehood were rejected. The 2024 ICJ advisory opinion declaring the presence unlawful is non-binding, highly controversial, rejected by Israel (and previously by the U.S. position on the core status), and rests on characterizations of settlements, annexation policies, and self-determination that major states do not treat as rendering the entire presence a crime. What actually happened Lander (Democratic nominee for NY-10, former NYC Comptroller) was among roughly 80–90 volunteers with Rabbis for Human Rights / the “Protect the Harvest” coalition accompanying Palestinian farmers near Nahalin (outside Bethlehem; Lander wrote “Nehalim”). After about two hours, IDF, police, and Border Police arrived, declared the area a closed military zone (for 24 hours), and detained the group for identification, photographing passports/IDs, and transport to a police station. Foreigners were separated from Israeli citizens. No one was reported harmed. Lander was later released with a warning (he attributed this to his profile); others remained in processing longer. This is consistent with standard practice in Area C of the West Bank (under the Oslo Accords, Israel retains full security and civil control there pending final-status talks). Olive harvest season is an annual friction point; closed-zone orders are routinely used to manage crowds of activists, prevent clashes near settlements, and limit access in security-sensitive areas, especially post-October 7, 2023. Many groves near settlements or friction zones require prior coordination for safety reasons. Occupation is a recognized status under the Fourth Geneva Convention when effective control exists; prolonged occupation and settlement policy are heavily debated, but calling the presence itself a “crime” is advocacy, not black-letter consensus. Security threats (terrorism, rocketing, infiltrations) have never ended.