Congressman Lander.

I'm Brad Lander, the Congressmember-elect for New York's 10th congressional district, former housing organizer, former New York City comptroller, you left comptrollers off your list earlier, and the best third place finisher in New York City mayoral history.

When I got elected to the city council in 2009, there was no progressive caucus, and so we formed one.

And the first thing we did was to work hard to make sure that we could win paid sick days for all New Yorkers.

And that took a discharge petition, I'm just saying.

And the drafter of that discharge petition was a young lawyer named Adi Barkin.

And I'm a little verklempt today because Adi wrote that discharge petition and helped us win paid sick days for every single New Yorker.

So what are we, what's going to happen?

Well, there are some things we can do on our own, right? So the House of Representatives on day one can ban stock trading by members of Congress.

We don't need Donald Trump's signature.

We don't need committee time.

Because that could be a House rule.

A House rule, exactly.

That doesn't mean that, I mean, a law would be great, be great to have a White House that didn't either, but we could show we're serious, that we work for voters, we don't work for donors, we don't work for ourselves.

But there's very little space for what a policy would be that we would want, right? What does it look like for the US to actually use its leverage and allyship in a positive way? And I'm curious what you imagine your role is in figuring

So what are some Democratic wins that stood out to you from anywhere else? You already mentioned James Tallarico.

Well, you know, I'm obviously thrilled with the win of Abdullah Syed in Michigan, you know, as a proud American Jew.

I want to see us working together with Muslims and getting beyond the efforts to divide us.

And, you know, Michiganders wake up with Jewish U.S.

Senator Alyssa Slotkin and Muslim U.S.

Senator Abdullah Syed.

And they don't agree on every single thing, but they agree on rejecting Trumpism, protecting civil rights, protecting reproductive rights.

So, Congressman-elect, what will your top priorities be?

This is not how anybody's system is supposed to work.

No, and it had never been like that before last May and June, a year and a half ago, when all of a sudden these folks, they crossed saying, I need to seek asylum, and they were given a piece of paper that said, okay, here's where you go.

So they think they're coming in To say, your honor, if I'm deported back to my country, here's what's going to happen to me.

And they would get a hearing.

Then they'd walk out into the hallway and these masked agents would just descend on them.

You know, I saw a couple separated where the wife was eight months pregnant.

He was detained when their kid was born.

Do you have some sense that the results of the election last night and by the way, these cross tabs that you can take from the voter poll, do you have some sense that the administration is going to get some message out of this? Or are you

So what are his thoughts on these results?

Americans are desperately fed up with the cost of living rising, can't afford housing or health care, and the government's not doing anything about it.

Trump promised to work on it, but instead is gilding the White House and taking us into reckless and illegal wars that drive up the cost of gas and groceries.

And also, I think Americans are fed up with cruelty.

To me, a big turning point was on the streets of Minneapolis last January when good neighbors in the Midwest said, we don't abide this level of cruelty against our neighbors.

And I think that combination and economic populism, angry at costs and a government that is not doing anything about an economy that feels rigged.

And a president in a MAGA movement that's just so cruel.

How are you going to approach it? How are the Democrats going to approach this new reality?

So what are some Democratic wins that stood out to you from anywhere else? You already mentioned James Tallarico.

Well, I'm obviously thrilled with the win of Abdullah Syed in Michigan as a proud American Jew.

I want to see us working together with Muslims and getting beyond the efforts to divide us.

And, you know, Michiganders wake up with Jewish U.S.

Senator Alyssa Slotkin and Muslim U.S.

Senator Abdul El-Sayed, and they don't agree on every single thing, but they agree on rejecting Trumpism, protecting civil rights, protecting reproductive rights.

protecting our immigrant neighbors and fighting for our democracy.

So, congressman-elect, What will your top priorities be?

Just take us through your thoughts about last night.

An extraordinary night.

And yes, in part because polls, you know, have lied to us in recent elections.

I think people were hesitant to believe them.

And the scale of this victory is magnificent.

You know, I really put it to two things.

Americans are desperately fed up with the cost of living rising, can't afford housing or health care.

How are you going to approach it? How are the Democrats going to approach this new reality?

How do you back it

up? I'm telling you, it is what I saw.

So, you know, Palestinians haven't been able to harvest their olives groves for years because if they do, they'll either be attacked by settlers or, as we saw there, arrested or detained by the IDF.

I went to two villages in the Jordan Valley, Bedouin villages, where every home was burned by settlers, a couple thousand people who literally are now in refugee compounds nearby.

One other village, Mugair, it's a farming village, but it's been totally choked off of all its farmland by a mix of government policy and settler terrorism.

It really is ethnic cleansing.

fall into.

What's the trap from your perspective, Brad? is to demonize and discount the votes of Palestinian citizens of Israel, whose, if it's a democracy, their votes count just as much as Jewish voters.

I asked him earlier why he was in the West Bank.

I'm a proud American Jew.

I long for a Jewish, a democratic Israel, but it's neither Jewish nor democratic when it's got Palestinians under occupation, stealing their land, refusing to let them harvest their olive trees.

allowing settlers to drive them from their farms.

So when a group called Israelis for Peace invited me to join rabbis and volunteers, American Jews, Israelis, and Palestinian activists, I thought it was a good opportunity both to be helpful to the farmers and to call attention to the horrors of Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

It was about harvesting headlines.

I did reach out to the U.S. embassy.

My office did when I got here.

Brad, I just want you to spell out for me what you saw and what happened to you and the rest of the people with you.

Thanks, Antonia.

It's great to be with you.

So I've been here for the week, Monday and Tuesday.

We went to Olive Groves and harvested without incident.

You could see a little video of me sitting up in a tree just picking olives.

It's a shame that Palestinian farmers need international volunteers to help them be safe while they're harvesting the olives in their own country.

Brad, what's your response to their accusation that this was just a stunt, that you knew that you would be arrested and that this was all for show?

Lander told Indira Lakshmanan about his arrest.

So I'm here with an effort called Protect the Harvest, dozens of American and international volunteers, a bunch of rabbis.

We went to an olive grove in between a Palestinian village and an Israeli settlement.

It hasn't been harvested in three years out of fear of the farmers that they'll be attacked.

So they were delighted to have about 60 of us harvesting.

And we got there just at their invitation.

It's their land, no checkpoint.

What do you say to that?

are.

We've gotten better.

And so we just got to work harvesting.

And for two hours, let's say, we just harvested olives.

We saw the security truck from the settlement drive down and take a look at us.

And then not too long after that, the IDF and the Israeli police showed up and made us come.

you know, out of the, you know, out of, you know, away from the trees and stand in the field and give us, give them our passports for review.

What's your reaction to that or response to that inevitable charge?

And so given that you're somebody who has spent so much time deepening in relationship to your neighborhood, to your city, to your municipality, and, and holding forms of leadership, and you're also somebody who is looking to hold a role that is national and to some degree even global in scale, uh, how would you counsel us to navigate this liturgy? How would you explore this balance between finding ways to mobilize ourselves locally and also to be part of broader national and international struggles?

Such an important question, and especially right now when the world has gotten so much more interconnected.

We spend so much more of our lives online.

You know, a lot of people feel like, "I'm losing some sense of the relationships that kinda matter the most." You know, my, our, my, my daughter, for her high holiday contribution this year, has organized our first block party on our block in many years.

And she's like, "I hate that we haven't..." She remembers when she was little we had one, and then it drifted away, and so she's organizing our block party.

And at the block party, like they got together organizing, uh, the block to do ICE watch.

And truthfully, like it's not li- I mean, there is a school at the end of our block that has a bunch of immigrant kids at the school.

[laughs]

Oh, these kids are

so sweet.

You know, again, I saw one as young as three, a lot of them 10, 12, 14, 16 years old.

So, I mean, there's a conversation to have about whether they're fleeing political persecution or whether they're just fleeing violence and war and poverty, right? That's the legal question here.

Are they entitled to asylum or maybe to special immigrant juvenile status? I mean, one kid I met this year, both his parents were killed by the RSF.

So there's no doubt he's got an asylum case, but also that he doesn't have parents.

So that's the kids we're talking about.

Can you do something about this?

Why did you sign this pledge?

It's great to be on with the three of you.

In India, like the RSS, and of course, for me, this goes along with rejecting money from AIPAC as well, trying to push the U.S. to keep funding Netanyahu's wars.

These struggles are late, and we work together to stand up for multi-faith, multi-racial democracy.

Hindus for Human Rights, which Sunita is one of the leaders of, I've worked together with as a proud Jewish New Yorker to stand up for the rights of immigrants right here in New York City.

We've done a lot of work together.

And so when she reached out to say, I want to tell you about what's going on.

What do you see as the similarities between what you're doing on Israel-Palestine and this struggle that we see somebody like Sunita talking about from Hindus for Human Rights?

Why did you sign this pledge?

It's great to be on with the three of you.

In India, like the RSS, and of course, for me, this goes along with rejecting money from AIPAC as well, trying to push the U.S. to keep funding Netanyahu's wars.

These struggles are late, and we work together to stand up for multi-faith, multi-racial democracy.

Hindus for Human Rights, which Sunita is one of the leaders of, I've worked together with as a proud Jewish New Yorker to stand up for the rights of immigrants right here in New York City.

We've done a lot of work together.

And so when she reached out to say, I want to tell you about what's going on.

What do you see as the similarities between what you're doing on Israel-Palestine and this struggle that we see somebody like Sunita talking about from Hindus for Human Rights?

Why did you sign this pledge?

It's great to be on with the three of you.

You know, as Sunita's last point about Steve Bannon makes clear, those of us who care about multi-faith, multiracial democracy have got to stick together against right-wing, too often fascist forces, you know, here in the United States, like Steve Bannon.

in India, like the RSS.

And, of course, for me, this goes along with rejecting money from AIPAC as well, trying to push the U.S. to keep funding Netanyahu's wars.

These struggles are late.

And we work together to stand up for multi-faith, multiracial democracy, Hindus for Human Rights, which Sunita is one of the leaders of.

What do you see as the similarities between what you're doing on Israel-Palestine and this struggle that we see somebody like Sunita talking about from Hindus for Human Rights?

Why did you sign this pledge?

It's great to be on, uh, with the three of you.

You know, as, uh, Sunita's last point about Steve Bannon makes clear, those of us who care about multi-faith, multi-racial democracy have gotta stick together against right-wing, too often fascist, forces, you know, here in the United States, uh, like Steve Bannon, uh, in India, like the RSS.

Uh, and of course, for me, this goes along with rejecting money from, uh, APAC as well, trying to for, you know, push the US to keep funding Netanyahu's wars.

Uh, these struggles are linked, uh, and we work together to stand up for multi-faith, multi-racial democracy.

Hindus for Human Rights, which Sunita is one of the leaders of, uh, I've worked together with as a proud Jewish New Yorker to stand up for the rights of immigrants right here in New York City.

Uh, we've done a lot of work together, and so when she reached out to say-

What do you see as the similarities between what you're doing on Israel-Palestine and this struggle that we see somebody like Sunita talking about from Hindus for Human Rights?

But how much harm do these types of confrontations do to those who are trying to make the point that in their view, the Palestinian people have been severely affected and hurt, damaged by what's been going on?

Yeah, well, let's start here.

This was a protest against Hindu nationalism.

Mohamed Bagwat, the head of the RSS, this Hindu fascist organization that's, you know, promotes hate and discrimination against Muslims and Sikhs and Dalits in India, that was what I was there for.

I had been invited by the organizers to be there.

And, you know, I'm trying to talk about that so I don't distract from the cause I was invited to support.

But, yes, I mean, I hate what Israel is doing in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon.

Do these kind of incidents, in your view, are they anti-Semitic?

Yeah

... from Uganda, that people thought, "Oh, he doesn't-- either he doesn't have a chance," or as he started to be clear, he did have a chance, for people to freak out about it and react, yes, in the Israeli Islamophobic ways, in these ways that, um, suggested that if you are critical of Israel, even while you can watch with your eyes-

Mm-hmm.

And, you know, that's how it will be, instead of saying, "Okay, yes, of course we need to end Palestinian suffering, to rebuild Gaza under Palestinian leadership, to flood in humanitarian aid, to stop settler terrorism in the West Bank, to end Israel's now occupation of Lebanon." But also, that's because we believe in everybody's right to self-determination and freedom and safety.

Um, but, uh, uh, how, how worried are you? H- how much do you think these, uh, M- Minneapolis, you know, like, like organizing tactics can be useful in, in helping to keep these elections free and fair?

Yeah.

Well, Trump has made very clear he, he will cheat and disrupt elections and, you know, if he possibly can.

So w- we would be fools not to take him, you know, not just at his word, at his stated intention.

Um, but I think the good news is we see the tools we need to have for them, and, and they have proved really more robust than one might have feared.

On the one hand, the fact that those Minneapolis good neighbors were able to push Bovino and ICE out of their city with the tactics of showing up nonviolently in the streets, um, are exactly right, and I, I think it's, uh, makes me optimistic that folks will do that in the places where they, they need to.

And yes, of course, there will always be, if people have the courage, many more neighbors who love democracy than there will be, you know, Brown Shirts out there trying to intimidate you.

individual role will be in Congress, what you, what you want to set out to do.

Can you tell us a little bit about their story?

Yeah, so the last two weeks I've been in a docket that's for detained kids.

These are kids who maybe their parents are here, they crossed with a different relative.

So if they were detained, they're put in custody with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, but that has gone up dramatically.

There are many more detained children, more than twice as many than there were during the Biden administration, and the length of time they're being separated from their parents has grown.

I was in court two weeks ago.

There was the case of a three-year-old girl who our government has separated from her mother for 10 months.

Visit SpinQuest.com for more details.

Can you tell us a little bit about their story?

Yeah, so the last two weeks I've been in a docket that's for detained kids.

These are kids who maybe their parents are here, they crossed with a different relative.

So if they were detained, they're put in custody with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, but that has gone up dramatically.

There are many more detained children, more than twice as many than there were during the Biden administration, and the length of time they're being separated from their parents has grown.

I was in court two weeks ago.

There was the case of a three-year-old girl who our government has separated from her mother for 10 months.

Why is it still happening? [laughs]

What does it say about where we are in American Jewish history?

Yeah, I, you know, I think you're right that something big is shifting and it's, you know, it's unusual to kind of find yourself, you know, standing on tectonic plates or whatever, you know, the right metaphor is.

About, I guess, just a little over two years ago now, when I launched my campaign for mayor, this was six months before Azaran got in the race, I launched in late July of 2024, I The Times very first story at the time Andrew Cuomo hadn't gotten in the race.

It was still Eric Adams who was sort of, you know, my my opponent.

They basically placed this story.

The first story on my race was the story in the Times saying Brad Landers views on Israel make him too far left to be the mayor.

And that is not how it worked out as you noticed.

And I'm curious, which are more difficult for you to deal with? Which are more painful? From the mainstream Jewish community, which says, you know, you've sold us out, you don't care about Jews? Or from people who say, actually, you don't actually care about Palestinians?

Is there still room for liberal Zionists in today's progressive coalition politics? Do you feel accepted? Do you feel embraced as one with your fellow future congressional members, with the mayor? Do you feel like you've had to change or adjust who you are? And if you want to share a little bit of your background background of involvement in pro-peace civil society Israeli politics, but do you feel like you've had to play that down or change it in order to fit in with a group that I would say, you know, defines itself essentially as, if not non-Zionist, anti-Zionist and beyond, do not, as the mayor says, accept or embrace the idea of a Jewish state, democratic or not?

That's a big question, but honestly, for me, a pretty easy one, because the answer is just yes.

I mean, you know, and I think people can see that, at least in me.

On the one hand, I make clear, I want there to be, I believe in the vision of, I long for a Jewish and democratic Israel.

Today, it doesn't feel like it's acting in ways that I recognize as either democratic, like I just don't think there's democracy with occupation, or particularly consistent with Jewish values either, but that's what I want.

Those are my politics.

I'm clear about them.

If you worry that this plays into anti-Semitic tropes, conspiratorial thinking, when you mention greedy oligarchs in the same breath as AIPAC, if you're possibly encouraging or giving oxygen to real hardcore anti-Semites.