An Australian-Israeli businessman rented part of the Armenian quarter of the old city for 98 years. The community rose up against the patriarch, fearing that it was a maneuver by Jewish ultranationalist organizations silenced by the war in Gaza.

The situation has not stopped escalating since last April, when the community learned of the content of the contract, signed in 2021. It affects 11,500 square meters: a large outdoor parking lot (on land known as the Garden of the Cows), some buildings that belong to the Patriarchate.