Rabbi Dov Lior: A scoundrel within the bounds of the Torah

The West Bank olive harvest reveals how extremist interpretations of Jewish law can undermine religious values and Israel’s democratic character

Uri Regev 10/11/2026 13:33

Tags: Rabbi Dov Lior

Rabbi Dov Lior

Last month, Rabbi Dov Lior, a leading Religious Zionist rabbi and the senior rabbinic authority of Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party, ruled that it is permissible to rob Palestinians of the olives in their West Bank groves.

He was reacting to a ruling issued days earlier by moderate rabbis from the Gush Etzion area. Addressing the spreading phenomenon of robbing Palestinians of their olives, they had declared it forbidden according to Jewish law and a desecration of God’s name.

Lior’s ruling rests on three religious claims. First, that the land has belonged to the Jewish people since biblical times, so the Palestinians living on it are the real robbers.

Second, that the olives may be taken under the halachic principle of “abandonment by the owners,” because Palestinians have given up on harvesting many groves that they can no longer safely reach.

The spreading phenomenon of robbing Palestinians of their olives was declared forbidden according to Jewish law and a desecration of God’s name

And third, that harvesting the olives is itself a mitzvah because it declares our ownership of the land and fulfills the commandment to conquer it.

Events in recent months, and in recent days in particular, show that the audience Lior addressed accepts his authority and shares his premise. They are unmoved by the moderate rabbis, whose ruling they do not regard as binding halacha. They are equally unmoved by Israeli law, which recognizes these as Palestinian territories under the international agreements Israel has signed.

Just last month, violent settlers assaulted a Washington Post photojournalist who was documenting the harvest. And the next day, they did not hesitate to desecrate Shabbat by attacking a delegation of diplomats and their vehicle. The diplomats had come to accompany the harvesters of Taybeh, the only fully Christian village in the West Bank.

Published on The Jerusalem Post