Prominent Israeli rabbi Dov Lior issued a Jewish religious ruling on Friday permitting settlers to take olives from Palestinian orchards in the occupied West Bank. The decision has drawn strong criticism from within Jewish religious circles and beyond, at a time when settler attacks on Palestinian farmers are rising during the harvest.
According to the ruling, Palestinian landowners who could not reach their olive groves because of Israeli restrictions have already been adequately compensated in the years when they had access to the fruit. The ruling also states that Jews may pick these olives in order to assert ownership of the land.
Ruling calls olive theft an act of virtue
Lior, who was born in Poland in 1933, went further by describing the theft of olives from Palestinian farms as an “additional virtue”. The statement was made as settler attacks and Israeli occupation continue across the West Bank.
He added that settlers should “conquer the land” in areas far from Jewish communities so they could publicly “demonstrate our ownership”, which he presented as following a biblical commandment. The ruling argues that the Jewish people have never abandoned the Land of Israel, a claim it links to daily prayers.
The ruling also says that Arabs never bought the land from Jews or from any individual Jew. In its words, the land is therefore “stolen land in their hands” and has remained under Jewish ownership.
Settler violence intensifies during olive harvest
The ruling comes amid a fresh wave of settler attacks on Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest. On Friday, at least 19 people were injured in 34 attacks by Israeli military personnel and settlers against Palestinians harvesting their crops across the West Bank.
An American photojournalist working for a major US newspaper was assaulted by settlers while covering the violence, and five vehicles were set on fire. Many Palestinian farmers have been unable to reach their crops because of Israeli restrictions and the danger posed by settlers.
Settler attacks are not unusual, but they are occurring only weeks before Israeli elections. Far-right parties have been pushing to win the support of settlers and their backers.
Rabbis and politicians push back against the call
Not all Jewish religious leaders have backed the call. Rabbis from the religious council of the Gush Etzion settlements published a letter describing the illegal harvesting of Palestinian crops as theft, blasphemy and a moral defect.
Tzohar, an organisation of 800 orthodox rabbis, said in a statement that only the state has the authority to confiscate property. It added that as long as the state recognises Arab ownership of the olives, they belong to their owners.
Mamoun Abu Amer, an analyst on Israeli politics, said the rejection by other rabbis could be politically motivated. He suggested it could reflect pressure from within the government to present Lior’s views as the position of a fringe minority rather than the broader settler movement.
Abu Amer also argued that the government is trying to portray the attacks as the work of a small group, the “Hilltop Youth”, and not representative of settlers as a whole. Lior holds considerable sway over hardline settler groups, including the Hilltop Youth, who strongly support his opposition to any territorial compromise with Palestinians.
Lior is also a prominent figure in Israel’s Religious Zionist movement and serves as the spiritual guide of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Abu Amer said Ben-Gvir relies on Lior’s rulings, which draw on biblical texts and the Book of Deuteronomy, and that Lior adopts the most extreme interpretations within Judaism.
Abu Amer further said Ben-Gvir uses the TikTok platform, propaganda and populist rhetoric to win votes, describing a “market for extremism” in Israeli society after the events of October 7.
Gilad Kariv, a Knesset member from the left-wing Democrats Party, criticised Lior and his followers for dragging Israel into what he called a flood of moral vice. “Whoever stands on the sidelines in this issue joins the camp of Rabbi Dov Lior and his criminals,” Kariv said.
