Hardline rabbi issues ruling allowing Jews to take Palestinian olives; moderate rabbinic group slams decision

Hardline Rabbi Dov Lior, the former chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba, issues a halachic ruling saying that Jews are allowed to harvest olives from Palestinian lands, sparking condemnation by a group of moderate Orthodox rabbis.

The ruling by Lior says that “the Jewish people have never given up on the Land of Israel, as we express in our prayers every single day. The Arabs never purchased the land from the Jewish people or from any individual Jew, and therefore it is stolen land in their hands. The olive harvest demonstrates our ownership of the land, and through it we fulfill the commandment to conquer the land.”

Tzohar, a group of moderate religious Zionist rabbis, slams Lior’s ruling, writing that “theft is forbidden from anyone, Jew or non-Jew alike,” and that individuals cannot decide for themselves to confiscate others’ property for security purposes.

The annual olive harvest in the West Bank is a unique flashpoint for violence, including today, with extremist violent settlers often attacking Palestinians attempting to harvest them.