Jerusalem Christians launch ‘existential’ campaign to delay crippling Israeli taxes

1,600-year-old Armenian Patriarchate implores Israel to freeze ‘legally dubious’ push by authorities to confiscate property

Jerusalem Armenians say they are 'willing to go to the end' to stop massive financial penalties against their community. Thomas Helm / The National

Jerusalem’s Christians have launched a diplomatic blitz to fight a surprise push by the city’s municipality to pursue disputed taxes from the Armenian Patriarchate, which church leaders say could jeopardise Christianity’s entire presence in the region.

The National can reveal that Armenian Patriarch Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, who leads the longest continually functioning Christian institution in Jerusalem, sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In it, Archbishop Manougian urges Mr Netanyahu to freeze legal proceedings by the municipality, which he said would inflict a devastating blow on a patriarchate that has survived 1,600 years in the turbulent city.

Church officials hope the letter, which senior officials told them would be presented to the Prime Minister on Thursday morning, would spur him to intervene and stop the municipality’s demand for the Patriarchate to pay millions of dollars in disputed tax payments, which they said constitute an attack that undermines freedom of religion in the Holy Land.

The sudden campaign is the latest development in a years-long saga between Christian leaders in the religion’s holiest city and the Israeli authorities. The Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox churches, among others, say the municipality’s charges are “legally dubious and morally unacceptable", as Christian institutions have made an invaluable contribution to the historic and contemporary character and functioning of the city.

Orthodox Christian worshippers at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem. EPA

“It is inconceivable that Christian institutions, whose mission for centuries has been to safeguard faith, serve communities and preserve the sacred heritage of the Holy Land, should now face the threat of property seizure under Israeli administrative measures that disregard due process,” a statement from patriarchs – Jerusalem’s most senior Christian leaders – and church heads said on Wednesday. They fear municipal authorities might seize extensive Armenian property in the city to recover costs.

“This action undermines the freedom of religion, which is the foundation of all other rights …" the church leaders said. The said the municipality's move went against "the right of existence of the Orthodox Armenian Church, depriving it of the necessary economic resources to live and operate and depriving the local Armenian people of the pastoral care of their church".

The latest clash was sparked by a collection officer in the municipality determining that the Armenian Patriarchate owes an “astronomical debt … without providing clear identification of the basis for the alleged debt", a communique from the Armenian Patriarchate said.

It is petitioning Mr Netanyahu before a hearing on Monday in which it will try to hold a foreclosure process by the municipality against the the Patriarchate's sizeable real estate assets in Jerusalem, which it has built up over hundreds of years to ensure its financial stability. Some of the property is leased by the Armenians to the municipality.

The Patriarchate is demanding a return to negotiations to resolve the wider issue of Christian municipal taxes through a committee set up in 2018 by the then Netanyahu government, when the issue last came to a head. Armenian officials said the body held “several productive meetings, yielding positive outcomes” before becoming less active during the Covid-19 pandemic and then the Gaza war.

Christian leaders such as Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem have sounded the alarm over the tax dispute. EPA

The campaign in 2018 came after a similar municipal push against all churches. This week’s foreclosure process targets the Armenian Patriarchate only, which church officials believe is an attempt to set a precedent that can then be applied to other, more powerful institutions in the Holy Land.

"The Armenian Patriarchate has significant municipal tax debts. In accordance with the law, the Jerusalem Municipality is working to collect the debts accumulated on commercial properties,"Jerusalem's municipality told The National.

Community in 'crisis management mode'

In an office attached to the vast and ornate palace of Patriarch Manougian, Chancellor Koryoun Baghdasaryan huddled with senior community members late into Wednesday evening to decide the next steps after the news.

“It will jeopardise our presence and mission. It will jeopardise 1,600 years,” Mr Baghdasaryan told The National, sitting behind a large desk a stone’s throw from the St James Cathedral.

The buildings under threat of seizure have helped financially sustain the patriarch through wars, conquests and pandemics, the chancellor said.

“During the Crimean War, our Armenian pilgrims stopped coming. In those times, we relied on their daily contributions to sustain ourselves. A historian wrote that our religious brotherhood in Jerusalem survived for two years only by drinking onion soup,” Mr Baghdasaryan said.

Armenian church officials are asking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene to freeze proceedings to allow time for negotiation. AFP

“Fortunately, we had a visionary patriarch who asked what would happen if we had another war, so he decided to use pilgrims’ contributions to buy and develop the properties we have next to the municipality building today, so we could survive on the basis of that property incomes. He passed away in 1860, but all the patriarchs after him continued this policy."

The Armenians gathered in the office, from all generations of the dwindling but steadfast community, said that while the particular target this time round was the Armenian Patriarchate, the municipality’s decision would damage all Christians in Jerusalem, who have played a unique role in building the city over the centuries.

“The Armenian Patriarchate was the first to open a pilgrim house in the early 1830s. It was the first to bring the art of photography to the Holy Land. It was the first to bring the art of ceramics to the holy Land. They opened the first girls' school in the 1860s. Armenians have contributed a lot to the development of the local community,” Mr Baghdasaryan continued.

“We are willing to go to the end to fight this,” he concluded, as the other men nodded.

After a pause, the most senior in the room, with deep seriousness in his voice, repeated the vow.

“We are willing to do anything. It’s our existence.”