Rabbi Lior fires back at the Gush Etzion rabbis: “Harvesting olives in the Holy Land is entirely permitted”
Earlier this week, a letter signed by several rabbis from the Gush Etzion area was published, protesting the injustice done to Arabs in Judea and Samaria by preventing them from harvesting the fruit of “their” trees — all the more so if Jews take the fruit for themselves.
Rabbi Dov Lior, one of the leading rabbis of our time, rules that there is nothing wrong with this — and that there is even added merit in harvesting the fruit before the enemy takes it, keeping him from approaching the community and endangering the security of the people of Israel in their land.
And the Rabbi emphasizes: “Jews are permitted to harvest the olives even in areas far from Jewish communities, to publicly demonstrate our ownership of the Land — and in doing so they fulfill the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel.”
Source: Hilltop Foundation
Posted October 17, 2026