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Israeli Police Review Complaint Against Rabbi Dov Lior Over Olive-Harvest Ruling
By Drooid · · How we work
Police Examine Complaint Over Rabbi Dov Lior's Olive Harvest Ruling
Police announced that they are examining a formal complaint alleging incitement to racism and solicitation of theft after Rabbi Dov Lior, a 92-year-old ultranationalist religious authority, issued a ruling permitting Jews to harvest olives on Palestinian-owned trees that are inaccessible because of security restrictions.
Background and Recent Tensions
Lior’s ruling, issued last week, argues that Palestinian land was “essentially stolen” from Jews and that harvesting olives on such property demonstrates “our ownership of the land” and fulfills a religious commandment of conquest. The ruling appears amid a surge in settler-related violence, including recent attacks on Palestinians harvesting olives and on European diplomats near Abu Falah, north of Ramallah.
In 2012, then-Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein closed an investigation into the authors of the controversial book *Torat Hamelech*, which suggested that Jewish law could permit killing non-Jews. Weinstein cited insufficient evidence that the book was published with the intent to incite racism. An arrest warrant had previously been issued against Lior in 2011 for endorsing that book; he was arrested after refusing a police summons, later released, and the case remained unresolved.
Official Statements & Responses
The police have not indicated whether a criminal investigation will be opened, noting that prosecutors have historically been reluctant to indict rabbis for religious rulings.
Criticism and Opposition
Rabbis for Human Rights filed the complaint, alleging that Lior’s statement incites racism and solicits theft of property. He added that “entering others’ land and taking their crops in violation of the law — that is not what God wants from us in this land.”
Verbatim Quotes
- “I regret having to file a police complaint against a rabbi in Israel, but reality compels us to stand on the side of the Torah,” — Anton Goodman, the organization’s acting director
- “Entering others’ land and taking their crops in violation of the law — that is not what God wants from us in this land,” — Anton Goodman, the organization’s acting director