* It’s a war against Islam: US Muslim rights group
*It’s provocative, attack on our religious rights: Palestinians
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, directed police on Sunday to ban mosques from playing the adhan, or Islamic call to prayer, claiming it “disturbs” Jewish residents.
He has instructed authorities to confiscate loudspeakers and fine mosques for playing the call, which lasts about two minutes.
Ben Gvir defended the move as necessary to combat “unreasonable noise” and lawlessness.
In an interview with Channel 12, Ben Gvir said that he was “proud” to move forward with a policy of “stopping unreasonable noise from mosques and other sources that has become a hazard for Israel’s residents”.
“In our debates, it arose that most western countries, and even some Arab countries, limit the noise and have many laws on the matter. It’s only neglected in Israel,” Ben Gvir’s office said in a statement.
In a post on X, he called the adhan a “hazard” to nearby Israelis.
The ban is provocative, attack on our religious rights: Palestinians
Palestinian citizens of Israel, however, view the ban as a provocative attack on their community and religious rights.
Ahmad Tibi, an MP and leader of the Taal party, condemned the decision.
“Ben Gvir wants to set the area on fire on religious grounds,” he told parliament. ”
In the past, there were attempts to pass a law against calls to prayer in mixed cities. Our position on this issue, in the Arab sector, is to oppose police entry. The adhan will continue because Islam will continue.”
Tibi then accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being behind Ben Gvir’s actions, saying: “He is the head, and he is responsible for this thing and the difficult consequences that could occur if this thing comes true”.
‘Control over public space’
Human rights advocates and Palestinian mayors have also denounced the ban as another discriminatory move by Israel’s government.
Khaled Zabarqa, a human rights lawyer and activist, told Middle East Eye that Ben Gvir’s move goes beyond mere provocation.
“Describing it as an act of provocation diminishes the gravity of the issue,” he said. “It makes it seem like the issue is only about Ben Gvir, as if removing Ben Gvir would resolve the entire problem.”
To Zabarqa, this related to the Israeli government’s “concept of the Jewishness of the state” and its implications.
“One of these implications is control over public space,” he said.
“Today, public space is crowded with various religious and national symbols. One of these religious symbols, reminding them five times a day, is the adhan, which signifies the presence of another people here. This is what they do not want.”
Leave if you’re not comfortable with our call to prayer: Al-Aqsa Imam tells Ben-Gvir
Also responding to fascist Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s orders banning the call to prayer via mosque loudspeakers, Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, the Imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque: “He who is bothered by the call to prayer can leave.”
It’s a war against Islam: US Muslim rights group
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the decision to ban Muslims’ call to prayer, describing it as the regime’s latest act of war against Islam.
“Attacks on mosques, churches, cultural sites, and religious texts are all part of the decades-long Israeli campaign to erase Palestinian culture,” said Nihal Awad, the national executive director of CAIR.
He added that waging war on Islam and Christianity has always been a major component of Israel’s genocide targeting the Palestinian people.
Awad emphasized that US President Joe Biden’s support for Israel is the reason behind the suppression of religious liberties.
He called on Muslim-majority nations to take concrete actions to end the Israeli regime’s genocide.
The largest Muslim civil rights organization in the United States, CAIR, has denounced Secretary of Defense Austin in that regard.
CAIR, the largest Muslim civil rights organisation in the United States, demanded that the Biden administration condemn Ben-Gvir’s call for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
Ben-Gvir’s history of opposing Adhan
Ben Gvir has a history of opposing the Islamic call to prayer. In 2013, long before assuming office, Ben Gvir and a group of far-right activists disrupted residents of the Tel Aviv neighbourhood of Ramat Aviv by blasting the adhan through loudspeakers.
The stunt, they claimed, was meant to highlight how other communities in Israel are “disturbed” by the call to prayer.
Efforts to restrict the adhan have also surfaced in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
In 2017, the so-called “muezzin bill”, which sought to limit the use of loudspeakers for religious purposes, passed an initial vote but ultimately stalled.
– With additional information from Middle East Eye
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