AFP, Jerusalem :
A government-backed Israeli bill to limit the volume of calls to prayer at mosques has been blocked by an unlikely source-the country’s ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had backed the controversial bill, which government watchdogs had called a threat to religious freedom.
It had been due to get its first reading in parliament this week until Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, a member of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, stepped in.
Litzman appealed the bill Tuesday night, saying it could affect similarly loud Jewish prayers, Israeli media reported.
The bill, proposed by members of the far-right Jewish Home party, was adopted by a ministerial committee on Sunday and was due to go through three readings in parliament before becoming law.
The bill will now be put on hold until a ministerial committee holds a second vote.
The bill was drafted in response to noise from mosques, but would in theory apply to all religious institutions-including synagogues.
“For thousands of years, the Jewish tradition has used various tools, including shofars (a ram’s horn) and trumpets” for Jewish holidays, the minister said in his appeal letter, cited by the media.
“Since the technology developed, loudspeakers have been used to announce the onset of the Sabbath, at the permitted volume level, and in compliance with every law,” he added, referring to the weekly Jewish day of rest.
He added that the proposed law constitutes an interference with religious practice and the status quo between religious authorities and the state.
In protest against the bill, Arab-Israeli lawmaker Talab Abu Arar chanted the Muslim call to prayer in parliament earlier this week, provoking furious protests from some Jewish members.
According to media reports, Arab MPs opposed to the bill pressured Litzman to use his power as a minister to block it, arguing a common right to religious practice for Jews and Muslims.
Around 17.5 percent of Israelis are Arab, the vast majority of them Muslim, but they complain of discrimination and are underrepresented in high-level jobs.
Israeli Arabs are the descendants of Palestinians who remained on their lands during the war that led to the creation of Israel in 1948. The draft law would also apply to east Jerusalem, occupied and later annexed by Israel and where more than 300,000 Palestinians live.
Israeli Jews living in settlements in the east of the city had protested against the volume of prayer calls, Israeli media reported.
The Israel Democracy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, has spoken out against the proposal and called it an unnecessary provocation.
A senior Israeli Cabinet minister said Monday the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States could usher in a new era of U.S.-Israeli relations that could lead to the abandonment of the two-state solution to resolve the Palestinian conflict.
Education Minister Naftali Bennet, who leads the right-wing Jewish Home party, told members of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem now is the time to seize the opportunity to “reset the structure across the Middle East.” He encouraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to communicate Israel’s goals clearly, Reuters reported.
“The combination of changes in the United States, in Europe and in the region provide Israel with a unique opportunity to reset and rethink everything,” Bennett said. “We have a chance to reset the structure across the Middle East. We have to seize that opportunity and act on it.”
The two-state solution has been a cornerstone of the Middle East peace process since 1974. It envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel to resolve the conflict born with the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. Mainstream Palestinian leaders have expressed interest in the concept since 1982 but disputes remain over borders and the status of Jerusalem, among other issues.
“Trump’s victory is an opportunity for Israel to immediately retract the notion of a Palestinian state,” said Bennet, who has been an advocate of settlement construction and annexation of the West Bank. “The era of a Palestinian state is over.”
U.S. President Barack Obama said during a news conference Monday Trump is coming into office with fewer ideological stances than some other politicians, but ultimately he is pragmatic.
“Opportunities and threats come and go. Seizing the opportunity is the secret,” Bennet said, citing the upheaval in the Arab and Muslim world, and the changes in Europe and the United States.
Netanyahu has voiced support for a negotiated settlement and demilitarized Palestinian state but opposes a return to pre-1967 borders. He also demands the Palestinians recognize Israel’s right to exist in any agreement.
The latest round of peace talks collapsed in 2014.
Bennet noted a half-million Israelis have made their homes in the West Bank since Israel’s capture of the territory in the 1967 Six Day War, the Jerusalem Post reported.
U.S. Jews disagree that continued settlement construction makes Israel more secure with only 17 percent supporting the concept and 44 percent saying it’s detrimental, Foreign Policy noted. A Pew Research Center study indicated in 2013 only 38 percent of U.S. Jews felt Israel was making a sincere effort to make peace.
A government-backed Israeli bill to limit the volume of calls to prayer at mosques has been blocked by an unlikely source-the country’s ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had backed the controversial bill, which government watchdogs had called a threat to religious freedom.
It had been due to get its first reading in parliament this week until Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, a member of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, stepped in.
Litzman appealed the bill Tuesday night, saying it could affect similarly loud Jewish prayers, Israeli media reported.
The bill, proposed by members of the far-right Jewish Home party, was adopted by a ministerial committee on Sunday and was due to go through three readings in parliament before becoming law.
The bill will now be put on hold until a ministerial committee holds a second vote.
The bill was drafted in response to noise from mosques, but would in theory apply to all religious institutions-including synagogues.
“For thousands of years, the Jewish tradition has used various tools, including shofars (a ram’s horn) and trumpets” for Jewish holidays, the minister said in his appeal letter, cited by the media.
“Since the technology developed, loudspeakers have been used to announce the onset of the Sabbath, at the permitted volume level, and in compliance with every law,” he added, referring to the weekly Jewish day of rest.
He added that the proposed law constitutes an interference with religious practice and the status quo between religious authorities and the state.
In protest against the bill, Arab-Israeli lawmaker Talab Abu Arar chanted the Muslim call to prayer in parliament earlier this week, provoking furious protests from some Jewish members.
According to media reports, Arab MPs opposed to the bill pressured Litzman to use his power as a minister to block it, arguing a common right to religious practice for Jews and Muslims.
Around 17.5 percent of Israelis are Arab, the vast majority of them Muslim, but they complain of discrimination and are underrepresented in high-level jobs.
Israeli Arabs are the descendants of Palestinians who remained on their lands during the war that led to the creation of Israel in 1948. The draft law would also apply to east Jerusalem, occupied and later annexed by Israel and where more than 300,000 Palestinians live.
Israeli Jews living in settlements in the east of the city had protested against the volume of prayer calls, Israeli media reported.
The Israel Democracy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, has spoken out against the proposal and called it an unnecessary provocation.
A senior Israeli Cabinet minister said Monday the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States could usher in a new era of U.S.-Israeli relations that could lead to the abandonment of the two-state solution to resolve the Palestinian conflict.
Education Minister Naftali Bennet, who leads the right-wing Jewish Home party, told members of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem now is the time to seize the opportunity to “reset the structure across the Middle East.” He encouraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to communicate Israel’s goals clearly, Reuters reported.
“The combination of changes in the United States, in Europe and in the region provide Israel with a unique opportunity to reset and rethink everything,” Bennett said. “We have a chance to reset the structure across the Middle East. We have to seize that opportunity and act on it.”
The two-state solution has been a cornerstone of the Middle East peace process since 1974. It envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel to resolve the conflict born with the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. Mainstream Palestinian leaders have expressed interest in the concept since 1982 but disputes remain over borders and the status of Jerusalem, among other issues.
“Trump’s victory is an opportunity for Israel to immediately retract the notion of a Palestinian state,” said Bennet, who has been an advocate of settlement construction and annexation of the West Bank. “The era of a Palestinian state is over.”
U.S. President Barack Obama said during a news conference Monday Trump is coming into office with fewer ideological stances than some other politicians, but ultimately he is pragmatic.
“Opportunities and threats come and go. Seizing the opportunity is the secret,” Bennet said, citing the upheaval in the Arab and Muslim world, and the changes in Europe and the United States.
Netanyahu has voiced support for a negotiated settlement and demilitarized Palestinian state but opposes a return to pre-1967 borders. He also demands the Palestinians recognize Israel’s right to exist in any agreement.
The latest round of peace talks collapsed in 2014.
Bennet noted a half-million Israelis have made their homes in the West Bank since Israel’s capture of the territory in the 1967 Six Day War, the Jerusalem Post reported.
U.S. Jews disagree that continued settlement construction makes Israel more secure with only 17 percent supporting the concept and 44 percent saying it’s detrimental, Foreign Policy noted. A Pew Research Center study indicated in 2013 only 38 percent of U.S. Jews felt Israel was making a sincere effort to make peace.
