Netanyahu Backs Bill to Limit Noise From Mosques

Residents of the Arab Israeli town of Abu Ghosh wave the Chechen flag during the dedicatio
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday he will support a bill limiting the volume of calls emanating from houses of worship, legislation that will impact mosques known to blast calls to prayer and Islamic services.

AFP further reported:

Netanyahu, who spoke as a ministerial committee was to discuss the draft bill later in the day, said he would support such a move that some have labelled unnecessarily divisive.

Israeli media reported that the bill would stop the use of public address systems for calls to prayer.

“I cannot count the times — they are simply too numerous — that citizens have turned to me from all parts of Israeli society, from all religions, with complaints about the noise and suffering caused them by the excessive noise coming to them from the public address systems of houses of prayer,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.

While the draft bill applies to all houses of worship, it is seen as specifically targeting mosques.

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