There’s a taxing time ahead in Britain over support for Israel

Like millions of others around the world I feel absolutely helpless watching the images from Gaza on my TV screen. The world has a front-row seat as, for the first time in history, Israel’s genocide of Palestinians is being watched in real time courtesy of a diminishing number of heroic journalists inside occupied Palestine.

At least 45 of my Palestinian journalist colleagues have already paid the blood price for delivering the truth into our homes in the West where we still struggle to wonder how anyone could exist without food, water and power. Even as I write, news has come in of more journalists being deliberately targeted and killed by Israel, this time in Lebanon. They’ve been identified as Farah Omar and her cameraman Rabih Me’mari, and another correspondent, all from Al Mayadeen.

“It was a direct attack,” explained the channel’s director, Ghassan Bin Jiddo. “It was not by chance.” The attack apparently followed an Israeli government decision this month to block access to the channel’s website.

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of the carnage and the killing. Today is the day I am going to make a stand and, for those living in Britain, I urge you to join me in my nationwide protest to stop the genocide. I am urging all of you to join me in my tax rebellion. Don’t worry, you won’t be breaking the law, you’ll be upholding it.

It is a criminal offence in the UK to pay tax if any of it is used to fund genocide, murder or any criminal activity, according to the 1945 UN Charter, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Terrorism Act 2000, and the Nuremberg Code. Therefore, if you, like me, consider yourself to be a law-abiding citizen, none of us should allow our tax to be used for criminal acts. And the British government is complicit in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza; British Special Forces are said to be in the country helping the apartheid state — shame on them — and the Royal Navy is apparently providing backup offshore.

His Majesty’s government can collect my money once it proves that none of it will be used for war or acts of terrorism

I am not refusing to pay tax, far from it. I will set up a trust and, as long as the UK Government follows the rules of my trust to the letter, it can claim my taxes which will be sitting there for the taking for a limited period of twelve months. His Majesty’s government can collect my money once it proves that none of it will be used for war or acts of terrorism. It’s called tax “rebellion” and I urge all of you to join me in rising up and rebelling for Gaza and its people.

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Historians will tell you that this is nothing new. In fact, Magna Carta started with a tax rebellion, so did the English Civil War, the American War of Independence, the French and Russian Revolutions, Gandhi’s Salt Tax Rebellion, the Glasgow Women’s Rent Strike in 1915, and the Poll Tax Riot; all were forms of tax rebellion.

By the way, this is the same way that the filthy rich oligarchs and some MPs use to avoid paying tax. My aim is not to follow their example, but to ensure that any taxes collected from me by the government are used responsibly. If not, then I will have the right to spend my tax in ways that benefit our local community.

This wonderful opportunity will be open soon to those living in New Zealand and Australia. I’m not sure if US citizens are able to do likewise, but I’m sure that they will be looking into it, as will those in Europe. For more information, go to the Probity website and discover for yourself when it is a crime to pay taxes.

We all, wrongly, assume that our government uses our money to pay for the essential services we need in Britain, such as health, education, defence and justice. The assumption is that since everyone benefits from these services those of us who can have a duty to pay for them, and if you fail to contribute your fair share of taxes, you are not only being unfair to everyone else but you can be arrested and imprisoned for tax evasion.

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However, what if the British government is supporting a criminal enterprise like Israel that is undoubtedly committing war crimes? The millions of us around the world who marched for justice for Palestinians and called for an end to the genocide know that such awful crimes are being committed; we can see them on TV.

“War was outlawed in 1928 when Britain signed and ratified the General Treaty for the Renunciation of War, which is often referred to as the Kellogg Briand Pact,” it is explained on the Probity website, “so it is never legal, lawful or legitimate to wage war, or to fund war.”

The only occasion in international law when the use of armed force is lawful is when a state is under attack by the armed forces of another state and needs to defend itself and repel the attackers. Well, Israel and its allies have always refused to acknowledge Palestine as a state. Furthermore, the brutal occupation state must, under international law, strive to keep the occupied people safe and secure. And that just doesn’t happen; quite the opposite, in fact.

“So, anyone who takes part in a war of aggression on the side of the aggressor, including those who provide the means, money or materials for the commission of the crime, commits the world’s worst crimes and is liable for arrest and prosecution for complicity in murder, war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide,” says ProbityCo.com.

We are often told that in this world nothing can be certain, except death and taxes. Well, it seems as though the rogue state of Israel has destroyed that certainty as well when it blasts civilian populations in Gaza with US- and UK-made weapons.

Our enduring battle cry to save Palestine today is: We must resist and we must rebel against war criminals and the governments that are illegally supporting them. If this lands me in prison, then I shall serve each day with pride. Viva, viva Palestina!

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.