Netanyahu Backs Law To Ban Loudspeakers At Mosques: “There’s No Need To Be More Liberal Than Europe”

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netanyahu2Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu on Sunday voiced support for a law that would ban mosques from using loudspeaker systems to call people to prayer.

The so-called Muezzin Law, propsed by MK Anastassia Michaeli (Yisrael Beiteinu), applies to all houses of worship but the practice is prevalent only in mosques.

“There’s no need to be more liberal than Europe,” Netanyahu said in reference to the law during a meeting of his Likud ministers.

After intense pressure from Likud ministers Limor Livnat, Dan Meridor and Michael Eitan, who harshly criticized the bill, Netanyahu announced that he was postponing the scheduled debate in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.

Michaeli has said hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens routinely suffer from the noise caused by the muezzin’s calls to prayer.

“The bill comes from a worldview whereby freedom of religion should not be a factor in undermining quality of life,” she said.

Netanyahu made similar comments to the Likud ministers.

“I have received numerous requests from people who are bothered by the noise from the mosques,” he said. “The same problem exists in all European countries, and they know how to deal with it. It’s legitimate in Belgium; it’s legitimate in France. Why isn’t it legitimate here? We don’t need to be more liberal than Europe.”

Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said there was no need for such a law and that it would only escalate tensions.

“None of the ministers came to Netanyahu’s defense or supported his position,” said one minister who participated in the meeting.

Netanyahu realized he would not be able to muster a majority in support of the law among his Likud ministers, and announced that the bill would be removed from the agenda of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which convened a few hours after the Likud meeting.

Netanyahu added, however, the matter would be debated over the coming days and that the bill would be brought before the ministerial committee next week.

{Haaretz/Matzav.com Newscenter}


11 COMMENTS

  1. EVERY Shul should have loudspeakers waking everyone up to go pray in the morning, one for the afternoon and one in the evening.

    Let’s see what Limor Livnat, Dan Meridor and Michael Eitan, and other Arab appeaseers, and of course Arabs themselves will say then.

  2. There are plenty of frum neighborhoods in Israel that play music on erev shabbos to let people know time is running tight. This would impact Jews as well.

    @Shalom, consider – would you appreciate all the kids in the neighborhood being woken up at 6:15AM? I know my wife wouldn’t.

  3. As someone who has spent years living in proximity to Arab villages, and has experienced the loudspeakers plenty, I still think this law is a bad idea.
    You get used to the call to prayer. It’s not the end of the world (or even close to it). Why do we need to give the Palestinian leadership more ammunition to rouse its people against Israel? I’m not into appeasement, but I’m not for starting controversies over small, inconsequential things either.
    Let the bill stay dropped.

  4. The mosques in Flatbush do the same thing. Those who spent several million dollars to build homes there make believe it’s not a problem. They just sweep it under the proverbial Brooklyn carpet.

  5. good point bibi,but still not enough !
    israel is our home and who wants in his home some strangers practicing their religions (avodah sara or not )
    but forbidding their church bells or the call to prayer from mosques doesn`t make them nonexistent.they will still go on wit their goyshe habits . all goym should be invited to leave eretz israel if they don`t accept the shevah mitzwot benei noach.
    we don`t need no goym in our home !!!

  6. Yep. And now everyone who isn’t a Hareidi Jew is going to complain about the erev Shabbat sirens. What goes around comes around. Besides, Muslims make up a far larger percent of the population in EY than in Europe. Whoever thought up this law doesn’t have the brains he/she was born with.

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