Israeli ministers have approved of the “muezzin bill” which will ban mosques from using speakers or public address systems for the adhan – the Muslim call to prayer.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation debated the bill on Sunday before authorising it for a parliamentary vote.
It is likely to be passed, since it has the backing of the occupying regime’s ruling coalition.
“Israel is committed to freedom for all religions, but is also responsible for protecting its citizens from noise,” he said.
While the bill is primarily targeted at curbing noise pollution, critics have noted the proposed law contains a clause which says that “freedom of religion should not be harmful to quality of life nor used to convey religious or nationalist messages, and sometimes even words of incitement”, which they say is targeted at Muslims.
During the debate, head of the Joint List Arab coalition party Ayman Odeh said the bill was designed to “harm freedom of religion for Muslims”.
“There are already noise laws that apply to mosques and it is clear that the whole purpose of the bill is to label mosques as problematic,” he added.
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Similar measures have been proposed by Israeli politicians several times in recent years.
Spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that Palestinians “completely reject” the proposal.
Around 20 per cent of the Zionist entity of Israel’s population is Arab Muslims.
