Hamas has strongly condemned Israel’s intentions to impose municipal taxes on churches as a new aggression against Occupied Jerusalem the Palestinian people and holy sites.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the move comes as an upshot of the US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the self-proclaimed Israeli state.
Barhoum called for serious and practical steps on the ground and for stepping up anti-occupation uprisings so as to thwart such racist US-Israeli schemes.
The group also urged Arabs and Muslims across the globe to stand up for Occupied Jerusalem and the Palestinians and to try every possible effort to destabilize Israel’s Judaization schemes.
Israeli authorities have recently imposed a property tax (Anona) upon churches worth up to millions of shekels.
Haaretz said that over recent weeks the Israeli municipality in Occupied Jerusalem has initiated a campaign to garner 650 million shekels from Jerusalem’s churches and UN offices.
Jerusalem’s Christian leaders Sunday decided to close the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the old City of Jerusalem in protest of Israel’s abrupt tax policy and a proposed land appropriation law.
