Israeli Health Minister Blocks Bid to Silence Mosque Prayer Calls in Palestine

Israeli Health Minister blocked a government-backed bill to turn down calls to prayer at mosques across the Palestinian territories.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had backed the controversial bill, which had been due to get its first reading in parliament this week until Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, a member of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, stepped in.

Litzman appealed the bill Tuesday night, saying it could affect similarly loud Jewish prayers, including synagogues, Israeli media reported.

The bill, proposed by members of the far-right Jewish Home party, was adopted by a ministerial committee on Sunday and was due to go through three readings in parliament before becoming law.

The bill will now be put on hold until a ministerial committee holds a second vote.

The bill was drafted in response to “noise from mosques”, a move that prompted angry protests by Palestinians who consider it aimed at Muslim religious rituals.

“For thousands of years, the Jewish tradition has used various tools, including shofars (a ram’s horn) and trumpets” for Jewish holidays, Litzman said in his appeal letter, cited by the media.

“Since the technology developed, loudspeakers have been used to announce the onset of the Sabbath, at the permitted volume level, and in compliance with every law,” he added, referring to the weekly Jewish day of rest.

In protest against the bill, Arab-Israeli lawmaker Talab Abu Arar chanted the Muslim call to prayer in parliament earlier this week, provoking furious protests from some Jewish members.