02 Dec 2024 (Press Ki Taquat Bureau):
Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has instructed police to prohibit mosques from broadcasting the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, asserting that it disrupts the peace of Jewish residents. He has mandated the confiscation of loudspeakers and the imposition of fines on mosques that continue to play the call, which typically lasts around two minutes. Ben-Gvir justified this action as essential for addressing what he termed “unreasonable noise” and maintaining order. In a recent interview with Channel 12, he expressed pride in implementing a policy aimed at curbing excessive noise from mosques and other sources, which he believes poses a risk to the residents of Israel. His office noted that discussions revealed that many Western and even some Arab nations have regulations concerning noise levels, suggesting that such measures have been overlooked in Israel.
The ban has been met with significant backlash, particularly from Palestinian citizens of Israel, who perceive it as an aggressive infringement on their community and religious freedoms. Mansour Abbas, the leader of the United Arab List, criticized the decision, accusing Ben-Gvir of exacerbating divisions and targeting mosques after failing to incite violence at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, a site he has controversially visited while advocating for Jewish prayer. Abbas remarked on social media that Ben-Gvir is persistently undermining efforts for coexistence. Additionally, human rights advocates and Palestinian mayors have condemned the ban as yet another discriminatory action by Israel’s far-right government. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has also denounced the prohibition, with its national executive director, Nihal Awad, stating that such attacks on religious sites are part of a broader campaign to erase Palestinian culture, framing it as a war against both Islam and Christianity.
Awad has expressed his disapproval of US President Joe Biden, accusing him of facilitating the infringement of religious freedoms by backing the Israeli government. Ben Gvir has a documented history of opposing the Islamic call to prayer. In 2013, prior to taking office, he and a group of far-right activists created a disturbance in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Ramat Aviv by amplifying the adhan through loudspeakers. They asserted that this action was intended to draw attention to the alleged disruption experienced by other communities in Israel due to the call to prayer. Additionally, attempts to regulate the adhan have emerged within Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. In 2017, a proposed “muezzin bill” aimed at restricting the use of loudspeakers for religious purposes received initial approval but ultimately did not progress.
