Yes, Israeli settlers are ripping up West Bank olive trees – but this video is fake

Palestinian olive groves are regularly targeted in the occupied West Bank. This year, the olive harvest was marked by numerous acts of settler violence aimed at Palestinian farmers. Israeli Army bulldozers ripped out olive trees in places like Deir Nizam, a village in the centre of the West Bank, as shown by photos taken by the news agency Reuters in late September. Since October 14, a video claiming to show olive trees that Israel allegedly ripped up in the West Bank has been circulating on X. The footage shows bulldozers destroying the trees. This video, said to show an olive tree being destroyed in the West Bank, was shared by a pro-Palestinian account on October 14, 2026. It’s actually a fake. Source X. To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. The video, which was circulated by accounts displaying pro-Palestinian positions, garnered more than 200,000 views across a number of X posts. The video was also shared – before later being taken down – by the Palestinian Authority’s communications team, as noted open source investigator Tal Hagin. It was also shared by the Palestinian ambassador in the Ivory Coast and by t...