NORTHAMPTON — Rabbi Justin David, who formerly led Congregation B’nai Israel in Northampton, said he was detained by the Israeli police last Wednesday while volunteering for an olive harvest at a West Bank grove.
The Northampton resident posted a statement on Facebook saying he was held with dozens of other rabbis and international volunteers, including New York congressional candidate Brad Lander, in Nahalin, an area near Bethlehem. In addition, David wrote on Oct. 21 that he was one of four volunteers formally arrested and charged with several crimes, most notably “supporting a terrorist organization.” After being interrogated, he was released.
“This was never intended to be a civil disobedience action,” David said on a phone call with the Gazette from Israel on Saturday. “I think the more proper way to understand it is that we were going to do work.”
The military told the Associated Press that the farmers and volunteers did not seek prior approval for the farm work and were detained “due to the security risk posed by conducting an uncoordinated harvest near an Israeli community.” Later, the military added that it viewed “the arrival of dozens of activists as an act intended solely to provoke, which undermines the harvesting process.”
However, David emphasizes that his trip was solely to assist Palestinian family farms with their olive harvest. He volunteered with a handful of American rabbis as part of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, an alliance of rabbis advocating for social justice around the globe.
The detainment comes during a series of clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians during this year’s olive harvest. Israeli rights group Yesh Din and the Palestinian Farmers’ Union have said the 2026 harvest has been the most violent in recent history, with reports of theft, beatings and arson.
Each day, 50 to 60 volunteers would travel to a new family grove to pick, bag and store olives before leaving, David said. The first two days came without complication. But on the third day, outside of Beitar Illit, volunteers spotted an observer a couple of hours into picking. Local police and military officers arrived at the grove an hour later, rounded up the volunteers and detained them.
David recalls being held for several hours and speaking to a lawyer. He and four other people, however, were interrogated on charges before being let go. All charges were dropped, and no one was deported.
“The movement during detention was to try and make this moment as meaningful as possible,” David said, adding that the group sung together, looked after each other and reflected on spiritual resilience.
The reason for David’s interrogation remains a mystery to him. He said it could have been completely random or related to social media activity. One volunteer with a very “common sounding name” was presented a social media post that mentioned Hamas in 2013. It was unlikely the volunteer’s account, as he or she would have been 11 years old at the time, David said.
“We all found them [the officers] very disorganized and unprofessional,” David said. “It’s not as if these were people who were specifically trained in rooting out terrorist cells, or people who were really trained in investigation. They felt like bureaucrats who were just kind of going through the motions.”
Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) was “outraged” to learn that David had been detained, according to a statement on social media. While relieved by the news of his constituent’s release, McGovern said “the Israeli government should never have taken him into custody in the first place.”
“Occupation and settlement expansion violate international law,” McGovern wrote. “Harvesting olives and protecting Palestinian families from violence do not.”
After the detainment, David was advised not to return for the final day of olive harvest that Friday. There were supposed to be two more weeks of volunteer work, but the West Bank is now closed since two Israeli soldiers were killed in the West Bank city of Hebron.
David held the position of senior rabbi at Congregation B’nai Israel for more than 20 years. During his tenure, he brought social justice volunteer opportunities into the synagogue. He is no stranger to advocacy and was one of the rabbis arrested in New York City in 2017 while protesting President Donald Trump’s refugee policies. He also joined the march against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed judicial changes while on a 2022 sabbatical in Israel. David now serves as rabbi at the Beacon Hebrew Alliance in Beacon, New York.
This is the second time David has travelled to Israel after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and during the last three years of violence in Gaza. He said both Israelis and Palestinians have a “resignation” about the current political situation and feel hopeful and fearful about the future. The upcoming Israeli election weighed heavily on their minds.
At the same time, David said he witnessed the resilience of Palestinians up close. There was never despair, only determination to protect their families, farms and lives.
“I firsthand experienced some of the ugliness that’s here, but I personally feel much more of the beauty, and, for the long term, I want to look to that and trust it.”
Material from by the Associated Press ws used in this report.
