they are trying to get out of paying taxes on commercial development properties...it costs the city just as much to serve and protect a church-owned commercial development as it does to serve and protect anybody else’s commercial development project.....this is just greed to try to not pay normal taxes for secular, money-making properties(And, closing the church is, of course, a ridiculous idea... Israel protects the church — at no charge — for free —from Muslim terrorist attacks, and will continue to do so even if its closed....but the priests really should keep it open .. there are people coming to visit from all over the world, after all...)
I visited Israel almost 4 years ago, and was at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday. It was crowded with visitors. The Church is run by 3 separate Christian denominations, and I was struck by how it was the only church I can remember being in where there was no collection or any other attempt to get money from visitors. My thought at the time was that there must be a fairly severe conflict between the 3 Christian groups, something big enough that they apparently can’t collect money and share it, so they pass on collecting anything at all. Maybe things have changed since 2014.
Churches cannot expect free city services for hotels and commercial properties. Hopefully, this can be negotiated successfully without too much inflammatory rhetoric.
Be interesting to see which side the Dispys here in the US come down in favor of. It’s usually “Israel can do no wrong” when it is the Pali Christians being squeezed.
Does anyone have evidence that the specific legislation is actually discriminatory? This is claimed but not show either in the text of the legislation or by providing details of particular properties being subject to the tax.
This article gives a much broader perspective and there does not seem to be a discrimination issue per se. It is just a matter that the Church has held a lot of commercial investment properties for years without paying taxes. There does not seem to be any synagogue parallel, which is not surprising because, until the founding of the state of Israel 70 years ago, held far more land ownership in major metropolitan tourist areas (holy sites, etc.)
If Hillary had won, if the left wins the next election rest assured they won’t be like Jeff Sessions, they will come in with blood in their eyes. We can be sure the left will do (or try) the same to the churches here what the Israel government is doing to the church in this article - tax them out of existence.
Come to think of it, since the Israeli government is leftist (by that I mean anti-Christian, leftists are anti-Christian the world over), its really the same thing.
PS. I don’t condone uncivilized behavior, but I can tell you from having lived in Israel and keeping very close ties to family and friends there, you have no idea how aggressive the christian missionary activity is. While some on this thread cheerfully applaud attempts to convert Jews, it is a rather sore subject in the 1 Jewish State in the world that has a long national memory of Crusades, Inquisitions, Auto-de-fe’s, Pogroms and the incredible hatred inculcated in our neighbors during our exile that made life miserable for centuries. Much of this activity included “missionary” work of the type where you choose between accepting Christianity or the sword/burning at the stake.
So now, when we have one place in the world to regard as a haven from all our past sufferings, there is a lot of resentment for missionaries and their organizations that just can’t to seem to respect the Jewish nature of Israel and insists on “poaching” the tiny remnant of the Jewish people that dwell there. Imagine Jewish Missionaries in Saint Peter’s square.
Go ahead. I have my flame suit on, but be aware, I don’t give a damn for your desire to convert everyone to Jesus. You should enjoy your religious beliefs, but don’t dare try to shove it down my throat. Have the decency to respect other people who simply disagree.
Sad to see FReepers bashing Israel on behalf of the Greek Orthodox scumbags or Arab-run “Catholics” who have supported the PLO and even Hamas against Israel for decades. The latter are agitating more than usual because they are egged on by the first Marxist pope...who dines with tyrants like Erdogan and bashes Trump and Israel.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/242384
...The Greek Orthodox Church considers itself the second-largest landowner in Israel, after the Israeli government, with properties in Jerusalem, Israel and Judea and Samaria. But in recent years, church leaders have quietly sold off several properties to anonymous investors fronted by companies registered in far-flung tax havens, causing home owners of apartments on some of the properties to worry about unknown parties wishing to build on the sites of their homes.
The other initiative about which church heads are furious is the move by the Jerusalem Municipality to collect municipal property taxes from church assets in the city. So far, church property has been exempt from paying property tax. But last month the Municipality issued a statement in which it said it had begun a major process of collecting municipal taxes from offices, schools, and buildings designated for various purposes and owned by the churches.
However, Azaria made it clear that municipal taxes would not be collected from houses of prayer, which are exempt from taxation...
,,,This is in contrast to Haifa and Tel Aviv, which collect property tax from the business assets of the churches. It should be clarified that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, like all houses of worship of all faiths, is exempt from municipal taxes and the municipality does not collect property tax from houses of prayer.”
Another anti-Israel newb. One gets kicked off, another comes on. Hmm.
The chrstians of the Middle East are the most anti-Jewish chrstians in the world. But of course they're more politically correct than fundies from trailer parks, so they get a lot of leeway.
dhimmi’s ain’t taking it anymore.