Community ransom

The community ransom (Hebrew: Kofer HaYishuv; כופר הישוב), or Yishuv ransom was a tax imposed by the Jewish National Council in Mandatory Palestine to finance central security operations and increase the size of the self-defence force known as the Haganah.^[1] The principle of the tax was that those who could not make a physical contribution to the Haganah would pay a "ransom" to its treasury.^[1] The money was collected through a tax on luxuries, cigarettes, restaurant bills and so on.^[1]

The tax was formally introduced on 24 June 1938, during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, and abolished on the foundation of the state of Israel in May 1948.^[1]

Notes

1. Barnett, 1993, p. 304.

References

• Barnett, Michael N. (1993). Confronting the Costs of War: Military Power, State, and Society in Egypt and Israel. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00095-4

External links

• מגבית כופר הישוב - קולקט, Community Ransom Fund, accessed 26 May 2010.