Pro-Palestinian demonstrators wave Palestinian flags and hold placards as they protest in Parliament Square in London on February 21, 2024 (Photo by AFP)
London, March 14 (RHC)-- A new campaign in the United Kingdom has been launched for people and businesses to no longer pay tax over complicity in Israel’s genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip. The campaign, called “No Tax for Genocide”, was launched in the UK on Thursday to urge people and businesses to stop paying tax, lambasting London for aiding Israel in its brutal war on the Palestinian territory, the London-based Middle East Eye website reported.
The founders of the campaign argue that under both international and domestic law, British citizens risk complicity in genocide happening in Gaza with their tax money and thus, have a legal right not to pay as long as the British government provides support for the occupying regime.
According to Ashish Prashar, co-founder and spokesperson for the campaign, there are a number of legal obligations, including the 1945 UN Charter, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and Terrorism Act 2000, which provided a legal basis for “tax resistance.”
“Right now you’re committing a crime as an individual when you pay your tax. You’re aiding and abetting genocide,” he added.
Israel began the campaign of death and destruction in Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Since then, the regime has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured some 73,000 others. The regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Prashar said that once launched, the campaign website would provide forms and guidance on simplifying the process of non-payment. “They’re using the money you have to veto ceasefires, to continue these atrocities, to provide political cover. You’ve elected these individuals, you fund their ability to do their jobs, you're culpable. As the British public, do you want to be culpable?” he further said.
In late December, South Africa stated before filing a lawsuit against Israel at the UN's top court that the occupying regime has failed to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Pretoria argued that Tel Aviv’s actions in Gaza since the onset of the current war have been genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.
In its interim ruling on January 26, the International Criminal Court ruled that South Africa's claims are plausible, ordering provisional measures. The Hague-based court also said that the Israeli regime must implement steps to prevent genocidal acts and allow humanitarian aid flow into Gaza.
