A lot of anti-Israel fanatics have been making a big deal about the closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre last week, citing it as an example of Israel mistreating Christians. This shows how desperate they are to find "evidence" to justify and spread their hate. 1/7 
In fact the church authorities and especially the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic authorities decided to close it in protest at Jerusalem’s decision to close a tax loophole and it was re-opened three days later. 2/7
Currently commercial businesses that operate on church-owned land are exempt from paying taxes to the municipality. This includes hotels, restaurants, shops etc. Note that the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches are 2 of Jerusalem’s biggest and wealthiest land owners. 3/7
Jerusalem is not a rich city, there is a lot of poverty there, and the city struggles to make ends meet to provide essential services such as street cleaning, sanitation, refuse collection, etc. 4/7
However, the wealthy Church Patriarchs took umbrage at the suggestion they should contribute and pay back-payments from the (inflated) rent they’ve collected over the decades, and took the decision to punish Christian pilgrims and tourists and embarrass the State of Israel. 5/7
In the end the Jerusalem mayor delayed a decision and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was re-opened. The Greek & Catholic churches will hang on to their cash for now and Jerusalem’s residents and other businesses will carry on shouldering the burden. 6/7
This is my understanding of the situation and hopefully it goes some way towards dispelling some of the propaganda flying around about this issue. Thanks for reading. 7/7
