The decision to relocate the church in Alexander's courtyard as a gift to Putin begs the question - what is the legal status of hundreds of buildings in the capital? • "Don't enforce the law by choice"

• Who is the landlord? Maria Magdalena Church in Jerusalem // Photo: Oren Ben Hakun

The Israeli decision to transfer the church in Alexander's court in Jerusalem to the Russian Orthodox Christian faction, supported by Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and yesterday's confrontation between French President Emmanuel Macron and the Israeli security guards who were with him at the entrance to Santa Ana Church in Jerusalem raises the question - what the legal status of the churches really is These are places where Israeli sovereignty does not apply. This question is interesting in light of the very large number of Christian-owned assets in the city, which supposedly produces a reality in which Israeli law may not apply in large sections of it.

In view of this, we have approached Jerusalem City Council Member Arieh King, who is very much involved in Jewish settlement in the city. According to him, "no church in Israel, neither in Jerusalem nor outside of Jerusalem, has an ex-territorial status that separates it from the State of Israel," the council member told Israel Today. "Israeli law is completely applicable to the churches in the country. But there is a decision by the state, which appears many times in the Bible, to allow the activities of the churches, which are all international branches of international or state institutions abroad (such as the Ethiopian and Coptic Church), to be virtually uninterrupted. This means that almost Israeli law is not enforced in churches, but because of the state's decision. "

Alexander Yard // Photo: Oleg Kropsky, Wikipedia

If a criminal enters the church, the police will talk to the patriarch

"In fact, in the event that a criminal or prisoner enters the church, the police will call the local patriarch and will not break through forcibly, although she is allowed to do so. The same is true with mosques but at a lesser level. As far as synagogues are concerned, no one in Israel will ask the chief rabbis, but will break in. "Therefore, in fact, the law and the attitude are like that in Nazareth, in Jaffa and in Jerusalem. Therefore, the prime minister's decision did not violate Israeli sovereignty at all, but decided between two factions in the church."

In fact, King argues that Putin's request strengthened Israel's legal standing vis-à-vis the churches. "What happened here is actually good for the country because a strong foreign leader has asked Israel to resolve an ancient dispute between two factions of the Orthodox Church - that is, it has recognized our sovereign authority and therefore it is a good move. Moreover, in recent years, Israel has cut the power of churches in Israel. Until three years ago, every church-owned area, even if it was an office building, would pay a property tax of only 30 percent, but following a query I filed, the court ruled that only places that engage in religious activity pay 30 percent of the property, while the other places pay a full property And that is to the displeasure of the churches, "he explains.

The agreement with the Orthodox Church.

Another interesting issue is the lease agreement in which the state leased extensive land throughout Jerusalem for 99 years from the Orthodox Church in Israel. There is a legal problem here, but not because of lack of governance but because the lease agreement expires in two decades. "Huge tracts of Jerusalem, buildings in Rehavia, the Arnona neighborhood, very expensive areas, are owned by the church. The entire Cross Valley including the Knesset and many areas are within this lease," King continued. "In some places the contract ends in 17-16 years and no one started. Talk to the church about what will happen next.In the meantime, businessmen have bought from the church such areas and pressured the tenants to pressure the state.In other cases, there are areas that are very expensive that no one buys and the state loses so much money that scared to buy in this legal situation. At the last minute and a pity. "

Can you estimate the area in Jerusalem that is foreign-owned?
"If we take all the land, all the buildings, all the open spaces, that's a few percent, it's hard to estimate, but that's up to 10 percent of the city."