His Excellency
Mr. Benjamin NETANYAHU
Prime Minister of Israel

We the heads of Churches in charge of the Status Quo over the Christian Holy Sites in the Holy Land, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Custody of the Holy Land and the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate, approach Your Excellency following information we received that government officials are attempting to speedily advance the legislation of the controversial bill, which is intended to expropriate rights of churches in their lands.

According to various reports, the scandalous bill will soon be presented to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.

This bill was one of the main reasons for the recent crisis that developed between the Christian community in the Holy Land and the State of Israel and, together with the imposition of arbitrary and unlawful liens on church bank accounts for alleged municipal taxes, in flagrant breach of the Status Quo, brought us to order the closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as an act of protest.

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