A team of senior Israeli ministers, previously tasked with the matter, is expected to reconvene in October after delays caused by the war in Gaza and tensions with Iran. The ministers, including Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, will review oral arguments after written submissions have already been filed. The National Security Council and the Prime Minister’s Office are leading the process.
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Jerusalem’s Alexander Courtyard
(Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)
Netanyahu revived the committee late last year, signaling a possible warming of ties between Israel and Russia at a delicate time. Sergei Stepashin, chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and a close ally of Putin, said in November 2024 that Israel had resumed the “working group.” According to him, “all the materials were presented, and they are now being studied. There is no legal basis not to recognize this property as belonging to Russia.”
The Alexander Courtyard, a 1,300-square-meter site adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, drew headlines in 2019 during the imprisonment of Israeli Naama Issachar in Moscow. While no evidence confirmed the courtyard was part of her release deal, reports suggested Netanyahu promised Putin control over the property in exchange for her freedom.
The courtyard has been under the de facto control of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (OPS) since its founding in 1890. Although the group purchased the land, Ottoman-era records list it under “the glorious Russian Empire.” Moscow has argued that this historic registration proves the property should belong to modern Russia, not OPS.
In October 2020, Netanyahu signed an unusual decree under the British Mandate-era “King’s Order-in-Council on Holy Places,” declaring the courtyard a holy site. That move effectively shielded the property from regular judicial review. A day later, the state recommended transferring ownership to Russia, but OPS filed a legal challenge, prompting Israel’s District Court to freeze the transfer pending a government decision.
Putin later sent a personal letter to then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, urging him to approve the transfer. While the process stalled amid the Gaza war in late 2023, the Israeli government informed the Supreme Court in early 2024 that it would appeal a ruling canceling the transfer to Russia—handing the final decision back to Netanyahu’s cabinet.
Officials familiar with the case stress that for Putin, regaining Alexander Courtyard is not just about geopolitics but “a very personal matter.”