NEW YORK — T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs and 11 other T’ruah-affiliated American rabbis were detained by the Israeli army Wednesday morning while accompanying Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest in the West Bank.
Rabbi Jacobs and the T’ruah delegation of rabbis were participating in Protect the Harvest, a coalitional effort to bring internationals to support the annual Palestinian olive harvest. They were among approximately 80 American, Israeli, and international volunteers providing a protective presence for Palestinian farmers. At the invitation of local farmers, the volunteers accompanied Palestinians harvesting olives, including a family that hasn’t been able to reach their fields since October 7, 2023. After approximately two hours of peaceful harvesting, Israeli forces declared the area a closed military zone. Although the volunteers agreed to leave, Israeli forces detained them and transported them to a police station. The Palestinian family was also detained.
T’ruah CEO, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, issued the following statement:
“Let us be clear about what happened here: Rather than protecting Palestinian farmers and ensuring their right to work their own land, the Israeli military forcibly removed those who came to provide a protective presence. This is an outrageous abuse of power, and part of a systematic, state-backed campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at driving Palestinians from their land.
“The Israeli government is actively advancing the forced displacement of Palestinian communities across the West Bank, using its military to deny Palestinians access to their land and intimidate those who stand alongside them. As rabbis, we have a moral obligation to confront these injustices, especially when they are carried out in our name.
“We will not be intimidated into silence. We will continue standing alongside Palestinian farmers and communities fighting to remain on their land, and we will not stop demanding an end to the occupation and the state-backed violence that sustains it.”
###
About T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights brings the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering our network of over 2,300 rabbis and cantors to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.