Brad Lander

Democratic nominee for Congress in NY-10. Dad Lander. Love unions, justice, seltzer, and NYC. #FightDontFold

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

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).

But several dozen rabbis & participants harvesting olives with me are still in detention. For harvesting olives. They should all be released immediately.

To be clear: Palestinians face far worse consequences every day. These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes. Yet one more element of escalating, and very clearly state-sponsored ethnic cleansing.

We’ll update on their status as soon as we hear.

[WellmanForMO @WellmanForMO]

#MO02 is ready for change. And between now and November 3, we have a chance to make it happen.

#TeamWellman #StLouis

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

Netanyahu has vowed to launch a major operation in the West Bank following a shooting in Hebron in which two Palestinians killed two Israeli soldiers and injured three other Israelis. According to Netanyahu, the operation would be similar to “Iron Wall,” the ongoing military operation in refugee camps that has displaced 33,000 Palestinians from their homes, with those displaced still barred from returning.

Iron Wall has led to what the UN describes as “the longest and largest displacement crisis in the West Bank since 1967.” The IDF has demolished entire residential blocks and streets. According to satellite imagery, 52% of buildings in the Jenin refugee camp have been destroyed or damaged, along with 55% in Nur Shams and 37% in Tulkarm.

The mass demolitions were stark examples of the West Bank’s Gazafication. Now, Netanyahu is effectively vowing to expand the use of these devastating tactics, which he called successful, even further. This is happening ahead of Israel’s Knesset elections on October 27.

As insane as it sounds, this is what an election campaign can look like under occupation.

Video: The destruction in Nur Shams caused by Operation “Iron Wall.”

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

I’m grieving the deaths of the two Israeli soldiers killed in Hebron today, and praying for the full & speedy recovery of those who were injured.

I’ve spoken out loudly this week against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, which imposes violence on a daily basis, and I will continue to do so. But violence is not the path to ending it — or to achieving safety, freedom, and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis.

And neither is collective punishment or ethnic cleansing of an entire neighborhood, or punishing millions of people for the criminal act of two, which Netanyahu has promised to enact in response.

I’ve seen a lot this week and I’ll have more to say about in the coming days (I’m on my way home shortly). There is a path to ending this excruciating cycle of violence. It starts by insisting that every life is sacred, that everyone is created in God’s image.

For now: Shabbat Shalom, to everyone who believes in the hard work of making peace & justice a reality, for everyone.

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

This afternoon, we toured the infrastructure of occupation in the West Bank:

Settler outposts that uproot groves full of olive trees & steal Palestinian land.

Gates arbitrarily closed by Israeli forces, forcing Palestinian villages to transfer construction supplies and bulk goods by hand.

Separation barriers that divide communities, and sometimes fully surround a single house.

Segregated roads for Palestinians and Israelis.

Features of apartheid, as B’tselem, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Yesh Din and the ICJ rightly identify.

It’s long past time to stop the settlements and end the occupation. Great Britain recently announced a settlement trade ban & sanctions. Congress should pass @JoaquinCastrotx's bill to do the same.

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

Back in the field harvesting olives this morning at the invitation of Palestinian families (near Beit Jala today) with @rabbijilljacobs @truahrabbis and many other new released-from-detention friends.

Our harvest today was peaceful & successful. Sadly, another harvest in Masafer Yatta was not. Settlers attacked Palestinian farmers — but the IDF arrested two of the farmers, and evicted the others from their own land, after declaring it a closed military zone.

Sound familiar? It’s happening every single day.

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

Count on one more co-sponsor for the Stop the Settlements Act in January, @JoaquinCastrotx

[Joaquin Castro @JoaquinCastrotx]

Today, Israeli forces detained dozens of volunteers, including a congressional candidate and rabbis, in the West Bank. Days earlier, settlers attacked European diplomats and a Washington Post journalist.

If American public servants, diplomats, and journalists are targeted, imagine what Palestinian families face every day.

Congress should take up my bill, the Stop the Settlements Act, to impose sanctions on anyone driving settlements in the West Bank or Gaza, including construction companies and banks. It's backed by 59 members of Congress, including the bill's latest co-sponsors, @RepRaskin, @RepRobertGarcia, @RepJasonCrow, @RepDeborahRoss, @RepJasmine, and @RepDavids.

https://t.co/BxZ52niLjP

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

The Israeli Foreign Ministry is lying.

No coordination was required, and we were never told that it was. We were not in a restricted security area. We did not pass any checkpoints.

Palestinian farmers do not — and should not — need permits to harvest their own olive fields. But they fear doing so, because the IDF doesn’t protect them from settler violence.

We’re trying to model solidarity & co-existence between Jews and Palestinians, and to call attention to the horrors of the occupation. The Israeli government is trying to foment violence between Jews and Palestinians, and to make it impossible for Palestinians to harvest their olive groves, drive on their roads, or live in their homes.

[Israel Foreign Ministry @IsraelMFA]

This was not about harvesting olives.
It was about harvesting headlines.

Brad Lander’s latest stunt is nothing more than a calculated political provocation.

Lander traveled to a foreign country, deliberately entered a restricted security area, and participated in an unauthorized activity without the required coordination.

What makes this stunt even more outrageous is that his own team contacted Israeli representatives in the United States ahead of his visit and was explicitly informed that proper coordination with the relevant authorities was required.
He chose to ignore those instructions.

At a time of heightened security tensions, Israeli security forces have a responsibility to protect lives, prevent dangerous incidents, and maintain public order.

Had anyone been injured as a result of his reckless political theater, Lander would undoubtedly have been among the first to demand that Israeli authorities intervene and provide protection.

Brad Lander came looking for a confrontation. Now he is pretending to be its victim.

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

Everyone in our Protect the Harvest delegation has been released.

The Israelis who were with us have also received 15-30 day bans from the West Bank, which unfortunately means they will be unable to participate in the olive harvest.

Thank you to everyone for the kind words and support throughout the day. For now, just feeling very grateful that our group is safe.

[Haaretz.com @haaretzcom]

🚨BREAKING: Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander was detained in the West Bank on Wednesday along with dozens of activists who accompanied Palestinian farmers, an Israeli rights group said. @MatanGolanPhoto

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

I’ve been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis & volunteers. We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nehalim in the West Bank.

The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.

[Linda B. Rosenthal “the #OriginalRosenthal” @LindaBRosenthal]

The President of the United States wines + dines white nationalists. He knows what a Shylock is and he doesn’t care.

This won’t be the first or last time that Donald Trump feigns ignorance when spouting antisemitic tropes.

https://t.co/uXeb7Nxvd9

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

Today was our second day in the olive groves with the “Protect the Harvest” coalition.

Listen to Amira Musallam from @ucpinpalestine share a horrific story of a mom and two small kids who were violently attacked by settlers earlier this year — in a house that sits just above the olive grove where we harvested today.

These are the kinds of assaults that Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to constantly. We’ll keep shining a spotlight on what’s happening here – in the pursuit of ending the scourge of state-sanctioned settler terrorism.

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

Beyond any doubt @AOC is one of the most transformational and effective leaders in our party. She has blazed a trail for a new generation of leaders – propelling a people’s movement from the streets & subways of NYC to the halls of Congress, and all across our country.

It’s an honor to have her endorsement.

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

I'm in the West Bank this week as part of the “Protect the Harvest” coalition along with @israelispeaceny, @ucpinpalestine & Protect the Harvest, which is bringing people together from around the world to help Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the face of state-sanctioned settler terrorism.

Our goals for the trip are to help protect the olive harvest — and to shed a light on the reality of the occupation. To ensure that international solidarity goes beyond the harvest, to become a sustained commitment to protecting Palestinian communities from settler violence, forced displacement, and the ongoing threats to their right to remain on their land.

And, speedily and in our day, to secure human rights, safety, equality & freedom for both Palestinians and Israelis.

Thankfully, our corner of today's harvest was peaceful and successful. But violence unfortunately is never far away.

We’ll keep you posted on our efforts this week, especially the stories we hear from Palestinians on the ground. Protect the Harvest.

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

Right here in NYC, your vote can help send a message, loud & clear, that you want elected officials who will fight harder for working families. Who don’t kowtow to billionaires or big corporations. Who are laser-focused on making everyday life affordable.

How? If you vote on the Working Families Party line!

Join this training Tuesday night to help mobilize people to vote @NYWFP: https://t.co/VFhBPWqncN

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

Stephen Miller and his fascist acolytes have devised an entire scheme to deprive kids of their rights, detain them, deny them lawyers, and deport them as quickly as possible. We’ve been watching it for the past few months, and I can assure you: there's no semblance of justice or the rule of law – only cruelty to children.

So I’m very grateful to the immigrant advocacy groups standing up to the Trump administration on behalf of vulnerable children. In their legal filing, they correctly condemn the administration for creating a "deportation assembly line." Props to everyone – in the courts and the streets – who is fighting back to defend the humanity of immigrant kids & families. https://t.co/6tfrMHQUWT

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

Thanks to @DTVPAC for the endorsement. Looking forward to teaming up to root out corruption, banish dark money from politics & shore up our ailing democracy.

There’s a lot of work ahead to clean up Washington. But we can start by overturning Citizens United, ending stock trading in Congress & passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. This is the commonsense, pro-democracy agenda that the people of NY-10 demand.

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

Early voting in NYC starts Saturday, October 24!

Check out this contest featuring some very talented student artists on the Lower East Side. They put together fantastic new designs for an “I Voted” sticker. If you're in the area, go vote for your favorite before tomorrow at midnight: https://t.co/q3Qtimbidn

[Brad Lander @bradlander]

In yet another stunning display of ICE cruelty, Oscar Belgal is still being held in solitary confinement (with a bullet still in his neck) at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center.

I joined a group of religious leaders & advocates — who protest there weekly against cruel & inhumane conditions — to demand that he be released immediately & that he & everyone else there receive proper medical care.

Reunite Oscar with his family. Expel ICE from NYC.