By Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put into motion yet another oppressive tactic against the Palestinian people, this time trying to silence the holy call to prayer.
A proposal has been sent to the Israeli Parliament, backed by Netanyahu, to ban loudspeakers in places of worship to cut down on “noise pollution” across all of “Israel.” This ban is primarily focused on the Muslim call to prayer, the adhan, which is called out on the loudspeaker, five times a day.
The proposal claims that “hundreds and thousands of citizens… suffer habitually and daily from loud and unreasonable noise that is caused by the call of the muezzin from mosques.”
As reported last week, Israeli authorities have banned the adhan in three mosques in Abu Dis, a Palestinian town just outside of the Old City in Jerusalem
According to the New York Times, although Netanyahu approved this along with other ministers, the ban has come under question from not only Muslim and Arab members, but also an Ultra-Orthodox minister, Yaakov Litzmen, who believes the bill will affect the use of sirens used to announce the Jewish Sabbath. Litzmen had asked for a block and a rewriting of the bill.
Palestinians have been systemically oppressed and removed since 1947 and this is just one more way of telling Muslims that neither their state will exist, nor will there be a place for them in Israel.
The legislation is also under scrutiny by Amnon Beeri Sulitzeanu, who represents the Abraham Fund Initiatives, which is a non-profit organization for coexistence between Jews and Arabs. “You see the two conflicting trends yet again,” he said, “which basically tells me that Israeli establishment still hasn’t made up its mind in regard to its Arab citizens.”
The New York Times said that Arabs make up 20 percent of the Israeli population. Palestinians have been systemically oppressed and removed since 1947 and this is just one more way of telling Muslims that neither their state will exist, nor will there be a place for them in Israel—that the call of prayer is and inconvenience to others, instead of a celebration of the mix of coexisting cultures.