French legal complaint says Israeli army uprooted and stole ancient olive trees from Lebanon
French legal complaint says Israeli army uprooted and stole ancient olive trees from Lebanon Submitted by MEE staff on Wed, 09/23/2026 - 11:43 Unnamed French citizen says his family in Lebanon had cultivated the grove for 250 years before Israelis arrives A Lebanese soldier stands guard at the entrance to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, one of three southern Lebanese villages designated as a 'pilot zone'…
A French citizen has filed a war crimes complaint against the Israeli army for uprooting and stealing ancient olive trees from Lebanon. The unnamed individual, 37 years old, claims that Israeli soldiers destroyed his family's 600-year-old grove and home in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, a village designated as a pilot zone under an Israel-Lebanon agreement.
The civil suit filed in France accuses the Israeli army of theft and destruction of property, which are considered war crimes. The court filing states that there is no evidence linking the family or the destroyed property to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group at war with Israel since October 2023. Lawyers representing the businessman assert that these actions contribute to a broader pattern of ethnic cleansing and village destruction by Israel in southern Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed his intention to wage war with Iran and expand operations into Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon. Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have claimed the lives of 8,920 people and injured 30,595 others in Lebanon. Israeli forces maintain a presence in a self-declared buffer zone covering approximately six percent of the country.
Amnesty International has reported that the zone extends over roughly 10 kilometers into southern Lebanon.
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