Israel deports 32 foreign activists who stood in solidarity with the Palestinians in picking olives news

Today, Wednesday, the Israeli occupation authorities announced the deportation of 32 foreign activists who participated in a solidarity event with Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank, on allegations that they violated military orders and were linked to an agricultural organization that Israel classifies as “terrorist.”

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin said that, in coordination with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, he issued instructions to deport the activists.

He pointed out that the decision came after an investigation conducted by the Israeli authorities based on a complaint from the head of the Northern West Bank Settlements Council, Yossi Dagan, who described them as “anarchists who carried out provocations,” as he claimed.

# witness | Settlers attacked activists and olive pickers in the Ras Zeid area of ​​Hawara, south of Nablus pic.twitter.com/SqopDxKaOA

– Palestinian Information Center (@PalinfoAr) October 16, 2025

Levin added, in a statement published on the Telegram platform, that “the firm measure sends a clear message that Israel will not tolerate those who violate its sovereignty or support terrorism.”

According to the Israeli statement, the incident occurred last Thursday near a farm south of the city of Nablus, where activists organized “a demonstration on agricultural land subject to military orders allowing only olive pickers to remain there during the season.”

Among the deportees is a young British man named Rudi Shkoldin, who told Agence France-Presse that he came to the West Bank in solidarity with Palestinian farmers who are subjected to repeated attacks by settlers during the olive season.

Local media also reported that the Israeli army arrested the activists while they were participating in picking olives alongside the Palestinians, in a move aimed at documenting the violations to which farmers are exposed by settlers.

The Union of Agricultural Work Committees is a non-governmental agricultural institution registered with the Palestinian Ministry of Interior, and it is one of the largest agricultural development institutions that was established in 1986.

For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the arrest and deportation of the activists, stressing that they were participating in a solidarity campaign with the people to document settler attacks.

Since October 2023, as a result of settler attacks, Palestinian farmers have faced great difficulties and risks in accessing these lands during the olive harvest season, except in the presence of foreign sponsors.

According to data from the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority, settlers carried out 7,154 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank during the two years of genocide in the Gaza Strip, causing the death of 33 citizens and the displacement of 33 Palestinian Bedouin communities. They also established 114 settlement outposts.