The decision by Israeli ministers to silence Muslim call to
prayer ‘will drag region into disaster’
The Palestinian Authority has strongly condemned as
unacceptable a decision by an Israeli ministerial committee to approve a bill
that would prohibit the use of loudspeakers at mosques during the Muslim call
to prayer.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman,
Nabil Abu Rudeina, warned that such a move “will drag the region into a
disaster.”
The Palestinian leadership intends to turn to the UN
Security Council, as well as other international bodies, in an attempt to limit
such laws, Abu Rudeina said, while slamming the measures are “completely
unacceptable.”
The latest attempt by Israel to silence the muezzin’s call
to prayer was originally put forth by Habayit Hayehudi MK Moti Yogev, and was
initially intended to prevent the broadcasting of nationalistic messages and
incitement over mosque loudspeakers. The bill was reworded following criticism
and now cites excessive noise as the reason for prohibiting loudspeakers.
“Hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens — in the Galilee,
Negev, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Jaffa and other places in central Israel — suffer
regularly and daily from the noise caused by the call of the muezzin from
mosques,” the proposed legislation reads.
The call to prayer, or adhan, is broadcast five times a day
between dawn and night-time, at different hours according to the time of year.
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