National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has instructed the Israel Police to ban mosques from broadcasting the Azan, or Islamic call to prayer, over loudspeakers.
According to a report of the Times of Israel, the new policy would allow the police to enter mosques and confiscate loudspeaker equipment if found to be in use. The mosques found to be broadcasting the call to prayer would also be fined.
In a post on X, the ultranationalist minister says he is “proud” to introduce the policy, which he says will put an end to the “unreasonable noise from mosques, which have become a hazard for the residents of Israel.”
The policy has been condemned by members of Israel’s opposition, including Labor MK Gilad Kariv, who writes in a post on X that Ben Gvir “endangers the State of Israel” and warns that he “won’t stop until in the end, a match sets the barrel on fire.”
The policy is also condemned by Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi, who charges that Ben Gvir “builds his base on hatred and persecution of Arabs,” and says that Netanyahu “bears responsibility for the pyromaniac minister’s rampage.”
