MK Mansour Abbas, chairman of Ra’am – which represents the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in the Knesset – strongly criticized a bill aimed at regulating and limiting the use of loudspeakers in mosques for the Adhan. The Islamic call to prayer is broadcast five times a day, including during the pre-dawn hours.
Speaking at a Knesset press conference on Monday, Abbas said, “Four years have not been enough for this government to address the gunfire noise from criminal organizations, yet they intend to silence the call from the mosques.”
In a direct message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the bill’s sponsors, Abbas added, “We are not foreigners in our homeland. Islam is no guest here. We have religious rights in this land, and we will not allow the Israeli government – or delusional individuals seeking religious conflict-to provoke Islam and Muslims.”
Abbas emphasized that the way Muslims practice their faith cannot be compromised. He noted that individuals bothered by the call to prayer can use community dialogue to resolve any local issues that may arise.
The bill, sponsored by MK Tzvika Foghel of the Otzma Yehudit party – who chairs the National Security Committee – would require official permits to install mosque loudspeaker systems and establishes fines for broadcasting excessive noise.
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