West Bankupdated 2h ago2 min read
Israeli Rabbi Dov Lior Permits Settlers To Steal Palestinian Olives In West Bank
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Dov Lior issued a halachic ruling permitting settlers to take olives from Palestinian groves. The ruling triggered controversy and condemnation from moderate Orthodox rabbis and critics.
www.timesofisrael › liveblog_entry › hardline-rabbi-issues-ruling-allo... was read line by line by the Watchdog: 1.0. See the score →
Rabbi Lior’s ruling
Israeli Rabbi Dov Lior issued a halachic ruling permitting settlers to pick olives from Palestinian olive groves in the occupied West Bank and to steal them. The ruling framed the olive harvest as proof of Jewish ownership of the land, and it argued that Palestinians did not own the territory because they did not purchase it from Jews or the Jewish people.
The ruling also asserted that “theft is forbidden from anyone, Jew or non-Jew alike,” according to Tzohar’s condemnation of Lior’s position. The ruling’s text was published by Hebrew-language Channel 13, and it was titled “Regarding the Picking of Olives from Orchards Across Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Benjamin (north of Jerusalem).”
Violence during harvest
The olive harvest season in the West Bank drew clashes as video clips showed settlers assaulting Palestinians trying to pick olives from their groves, and the reporting also described an assault on a Washington Post journalist. The Al-Jazirah Net account said at least 19 people were injured due to 34 attacks carried out by the Israeli army and settlers in various areas of the West Bank, and it said the attacks resulted in the burning of 5 vehicles.
The Express Tribune said Israeli occupiers attacked Palestinian olive pickers north of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, assaulting farmers and setting three vehicles on fire in the town of Turmus Ayya. The Express Tribune also said the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission documented 136 attacks linked to the olive harvest season carried out by Israeli forces and occupiers since the beginning of October.
Political backlash and stakes
Knesset member Gilad Kariv of the Democrats party criticized Rabbi Dov Lior’s proposal as a “distorted judgment,” and he accused Lior and his followers of dragging Israel into a “flood of moral depravity.” Kariv pledged to urge the police to investigate incitement to commit a crime and racism, and he said, “Whoever stands neutral on this issue joins the camp of Rabbi Dov Lior and his criminals.”
The Terumah (Tsehar) Rabbinic Organization replied to Lior’s ruling by asserting that “the state alone is empowered to confiscate owners’ properties,” and it added that as long as the state recognizes Arab ownership of the olives, it is his. The Haaretz account described a growing backlash from within the settler community itself as Israeli settlers disrupt Palestinian farmers’ efforts to harvest their olives, damage their crops, and even steal their produce.