Proposal would ban amplified sound from 11pm to 7am, limiting scope to first of five daily Muslim calls to prayer just before dawn
Israeli ministers on Sunday endorsed a contentious draft bill that Muslims say is meant to silence the traditional call to prayer, information released by the justice ministry showed.
A list of draft legislation put to the vote in the powerful ministerial committee on legislation marked the “bill for prevention of noise from public address systems in houses of prayer” as having “passed”.
It gave no further details.
Approval by the committee, chaired by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of the far-right Jewish Home party, means that the draft will now go before parliament as a government bill.
If the bill passes its initial reading in the Knesset, expected to take place on Wednesday, it will be sent back to committee, after which it will again come before the plenum for its second and third readings prior to becoming law, the Times of Israel said. The backing by the ministerial committee gives the bill coalition support.
PA calls mosque-muffling bill an attack on religious freedom
Abbas says legislation ‘would drag the area into disaster,’ top Arab lawmaker says move is racist, vows call to prayer will outlast Netanyahu
timesofisrael.com
