by Yair Altman, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
Legislation claims calls to prayer subject scores of Israelis to unnecessary noise • Arab MK: Bill "a populistic attempt to incite against Arab public" • PA warns bill will "drive region to the brink of disaster," threatens international action.
The Palestinian Authority warned Monday that a
new bill that would bar public places of worship from using
loudspeakers for calls to prayer targets mosques and Muslims and may
"drive the region to the brink of disaster." The PA also said it would
seek the international community's assistance to make Israel repeal the
bill.
The controversial proposal, dubbed the
"muezzin bill," passed its Ministerial Committee on Legislation vote
Sunday. Arab MKs said that since the bill focuses mainly on the use
mosques make of such sound systems, it targets Muslim worshippers.
Palestinian official Adnan al-Husseini told
the Maan news agency that loudspeakers used in mosques in Israel comply
with noise regulations, and the bill is an attempt to erase Jerusalem's
Muslim identity.
The bill, sponsored by Habayit Hayehudi MKs
Moti Yogev, Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli and Betzalel Smotrich, Likud MKs Miki
Zohar, Avraham Nagosa and Nurit Koren, and Kulanu MK Merav Ben-Ari, says
that, given the proximity of Jewish and Arab neighborhoods to each
other in Israel, the calls to prayer by mosques' muezzins five times
each day -- at sunrise, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night --
affects residents for miles around.
"Hundreds of thousands of people in Israel, in
the areas of the Galilee, Negev, Jerusalem and various places in the
center of the country, suffer routinely and daily from the noise caused
by the calls of the muezzin in mosques. This noise disturbs public peace
several times a day, including the early morning hours," the bill's
abstract said.
"The proposed law presents a worldview,
whereby freedom of religion need not pose a detriment to quality of
life, and proposes prohibiting in houses of worship the use of loud
speakers to call people to prayer or transmit religious or nationalistic
messages."
Yogev, who penned the bill, said, "We have no
intention of undermining religious freedoms, but to prevent the
disruption of sleep for the majority of those who are affected by the
call of the muezzin, tired students in their classrooms, in the Arab
sector as well, tired drivers on the roads, babies waking up."
The bill sparked uproar in the Knesset due to
objections from imams -- Muslim prayer leaders -- who oversee the
muezzin call. During a debate on the bill at the weekly cabinet meeting
on Sunday, a Justice Ministry representative argued against the bill,
saying that the existing legal situation is satisfactory.
Immigrant Absorption Minister Zeev Elkin,
meanwhile, argued that the bill is important to help bolster law
enforcement efforts. Elkin then turned to Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, who approved the ministerial vote despite the objections from
the Justice Ministry.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he supports the bill.
"Israel is a country that respects freedom of
religion for all religions. Israel is also duty-bound to protect those
suffering from the unduly noise of the calls [to prayer]. This [type of
law] is customary in many European cities as well. This is also the
practice in different places in the Muslim world," Netanyahu said.
Joint Arab List Chairman MK Ayman Odeh slammed
the bill, saying, "The silencing of the muezzin law is another
populistic and racist attempt to incite against the Arab public. In
contrast to this nationalist government, we believe in the beauty of
multiculuralism."
MK Yousef Jabareen (Joint Arab List) said the law "harshly and blatantly hurts freedom of religion and freedom of worship."
Yair Altman, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=37973
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