Hardline Israeli rabbi ruling on stolen Palestinian olives prompts uproar

Israeli Rabbi Dov Lior issued a religious ruling on Friday permitting settlers to pick olives from Palestinian orchards in the occupied West Bank. He claims Palestinian landowners barred by Israeli restrictions from reaching their harvest have already been sufficiently compensated, and that settlers may therefore claim ownership of the land. Lior described taking the olives as an “additional virtue” and urged settlers to “conquer the land” and publicly demonstrate ownership, citing a biblical commandment.