Israel gives initial approval to law limiting call of Muezzin on loudspeaker

Although the law is primarily aimed at Muslim Muezzins who use mosque loudspeakers to call for worshippers to come pray, disturbing the lives of many citizens in the process, the law pertains to all religions and houses of prayer.

The Knesset’s Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved on Sunday a law that prohibits the use of a public address system to call worshippers to prayer or to convey religious or national messages.

The law is primarily aimed at Muslim Muezzins who use mosque loudspeakers to call for worshippers to come pray, many times at early hours of the morning and the late hours of the night, disturbing the lives of many citizens.

The law pertains to all religions and houses of prayer in Israel.

Relating to the proposed law at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Muslims, as well as Jews and Christians, also suffer from this. I cannot count the times, they are simply too numerous, that citizens have turned to me from all parts of Israeli society, from all religions, with complaints about the noise and suffering caused them by the excessive noise coming to them from the public address systems of houses of prayer.”

Netanyahu underscored that the law was about noise and public peace, not about religion.

“Israel is a country that respects freedom of religion for all faiths. Israel is also committed to defending those who suffer from the loudness of the excessive noise of the announcements. This is how it is in many European cities and in many places in the Islamic world, where the loudness of the announcements is limited out of consideration for the populace as a whole. I support similar legislation and enforcement in the State of Israel,” he stated.

The legislation still requires the approval of the Knesset’s plenum.

The Palestinians are threatening to go to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to stop the legislation.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas, described the situation as “grave” and warned that such legislation “is going to bring disasters to the region.”

The Hamas terror organization also condemned the proposed legislation as hindering Muslim freedom of worship and which contradicts international law.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News