3 weeks ago - Officials claimed the church owed taxes on several income-generating properties, while the patriarchate argued that historic agreements exempted its holdings from such payments. The freeze disrupted salaries for clergy and staff and drew condemnation from the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, ...

August 19, 2025 - “The church leaders argue that they have never paid municipal or governmental taxes during the periods of Ottoman, British, Jordanian, and Israeli rule,” advocacy group Protecting Holy Land Christians said in a statement.

August 14, 2025 - “Because of this, historically, the churches have never paid municipal or governmental taxes for church properties whether during the periods of Ottoman, British, Jordanian, or Israeli rule.” · According to Protecting Holy Land Christians, ...

The Jerusalem municipality has frozen all bank accounts belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem over unpaid property taxes, leaving the religious institution unable to pay salaries to clergy, teachers, and staff.

August 18, 2025 - According to a longstanding arrangement between Jerusalem's churches and the state, the churches are exempt from municipal tax. But the Jerusalem municipality argues that it has the right to collect tax on church assets that aren't used for ...

File - 4 : List of rents disbursed to our necessitous natives and Greeks. File - 4 : List of rents paid to the owners of the houses rented by the Holy Community in Jerusalem for the local Orthodox Christians.

August 14, 2025 - “Administrative enforcement measures were taken against the Greek Patriarchate because it failed to settle its property tax debts for assets not used as houses of worship,” its spokesperson office said.

August 26, 2025 - The decision by Jerusalem’s municipality to freeze the bank accounts of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate has thrust one of the Holy Land’s oldest churches into financial paralysis, intensifying a long-running dispute over property taxes and ...

August 14, 2025 - The Jerusalem Municipality’s reason for freezing all bank accounts belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem is that the latter ignored letters from the city about its tax debts, the municipality says, responding to a query by The Times of Israel.

August 21, 2025 - For generations, churches had been ... of the Holy Land’s oldest churches into financial paralysis, intensifying a long-running dispute over property taxes and exposing once more the fragile standing of Christians in the ...

August 16, 2025 - — /️ NEW: The Jerusalem Municipality in Israel has frozen all bank accounts belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, demanding that they pay property taxes, known as the 'Arnona' tax in Israeli law

August 19, 2025 - JERUSALEM — The Israeli authorities’ decision to freeze the bank accounts of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and impose heavy taxes on its properties has ignited widespread outrage among church and political circles.

December 22, 2025 - “The church leaders argue that they have never paid municipal or governmental taxes during the periods of Ottoman, British, Jordanian, and Israeli rule,” advocacy group Protecting Holy Land Christians said in a statement.

In attempt to end longstanding dispute, Jerusalem Municipality orders JNF and Greek Orthodox Patriarchate to jointly pay outstanding taxes

August 18, 2025 - Historically, churches in the Holy Land have never paid either municipal or government taxes on their properties; this held true for centuries, throughout the periods of Ottoman, British, Jordanian and Israeli rule over Jerusalem.

November 23, 2017 - Around NIS 100 million ($28.4) of the debt that Theophilus inherited in 2005 came from unpaid property taxes, inflated by interest, on some 1,000 dunams (250 acres) of its land near the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox monastery, located in southeast ...

August 6, 2025, letter sent by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to mayors of Israeli cities, asking them to halt tax collection efforts on churches. Some information has been redacted. ... The letter was sent on the same day that the Israeli-run Jerusalem Municipality went to the extreme of freezing all of the bank accounts, a total of about $3 million, belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Church.

August 15, 2025 - “The Jerusalem Municipality has unilaterally decided to freeze the bank account of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In our view, the reasoning behind this decision is linked to property tax,” the statement said.

August 14, 2025 - "Administrative enforcement measures were taken against the Greek Patriarchate because it failed to settle its property tax debts for assets not used as houses of worship,” its spokesperson office said.

November 15, 2024 - The whole second half of the 19th century, the Patriarchate entered a bright period of rehabilitation and renaissance. The entire Orthodox Christian world with the by now free Greek Nation in charge, contributed with gifts and considerable financial help towards the struggle of reconstruction.