Netanyahu Seeks to Quiet Prayer Calls
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his support for a Knesset bill to restrict Muslim prayer calls. In a meeting with his cabinet on November 13, Netanyahu cited frequent noise complaints from citizens “from all parts of Israeli society, from all religions.” The Israeli PM argued that the calls result in excessive “noise and suffering” for Israeli citizens. The bill in question, sometimes referred to as the “muezzin law,” encompasses all houses of worship, but Muslims view it as specifically targeting mosques. After receiving the backing of Netanyahu and an Israeli ministerial committee, the bill now has all the necessary support to go up for a vote in parliament. The bill has provoked intense criticism from policy makers and advocacy groups alike. Aymen Odeh, leader of the Arab-Israeli political coalition known as the Joint List, described the legislation as “another bill in a series of populist bills whose objective is to create atmosphere of hate and incitement against the Arab population.” Nasreen Hadad Haj-Yahya of the Israel Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that strongly opposes the bill, argues that the bill’s “real aim is not to prevent noise, but rather to create noise that will hurt all of society and the efforts to establish a sane reality between Jews and Arabs.”
This is not the first time that members of the Israeli government have attempted to limit prayer calls. Two similar bills have been proposed in the past, one in 2011 and another in 2014, by members of Yisrael Beitenu, a historically right-wing nationalist party in Israel. The 2011 bill drew criticism from Israel’s then-president Shimon Peres, who called the legislation “a march of folly” and exclaimed, “I am personally ashamed there are attempts being made to pass such laws.” Peres left office in 2014 and died this year from a stroke on September 26.
Spectators are worried about how these recent efforts to restrict prayer calls may contribute to the divide between Jewish and Arab factions in Israel. Proponents of the bill have claimed that its goal is not to infringe on Muslims’ rights but to “prevent people's sleep from being disturbed,” as described by one legislator. Israeli lawmaker Moti Yogev, advocating on behalf of the bill a year ago, argued that “freedom of religion should not be harmful to quality of life.”
But these justifications have not eased the tensions of Arab-Israeli political leaders, who worry about the discriminatory implications of the bill. One Arab parliamentarian, Ahmad Tibi, has taken a very intense resistance to the legislation, telling a Lebanese television station that should the bill pass, “I call on the Arab public in Israel to rise up; I call for a civil popular uprising,” the New York Times reported.
The bill also bodes poorly for Palestinian-Israeli relations. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee, released a highly critical statement of the bill, calling it “a direct blow to tolerance and inclusion.” Adnan al-Husseini, the Palestinian Authority (PA) governor of Jerusalem, spoke more on the issue with Ma’an News Agency, an independent Palestinian news organization. According to al-Husseini, the noise of the prayer call is not the actual source of Israelis’ frustrations. Rather, their complaints stem from the fact that the prayer call serves as a constant reminder of Palestinian presence in Israel.
The division created by the muezzin law adds to an already tense political atmosphere between Israelis and Palestinians. This past summer, the Israeli government came under fire for plans for Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and home demolition in Palestinian areas. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby denounced these actions in a statement on July 27, claiming that this activity was “systematically undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.”
It’s unclear how far Israel’s right-wing policymakers are willing to go for the passage of the prayer call legislation, but their continuous efforts on the issue since 2011 speak to a strong level of persistence. If Netanyahu and his allies fail to appease Arab political leaders about the discriminatory nature of the bill, it may prove difficult to implement. Even if the bill does pass, it could further entrench divisions between Arab and Jewish policymakers, making other legislative priorities more difficult to achieve.