Palestinian churches raise the call to prayer

In response to the Israeli government’s plan to prohibit the call to prayer in the city, churches in Nazareth showed solidarity with Muslims by broadcasting the call to the night prayer .

Over the past two weeks, Israel has been working to ban the Muslim call to prayer, the athan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has supported the a bill to outlaw the religious calling, saying: “Israel is a state that respects the freedom of worship for all believers and it is committed to protecting those who suffer from noise which is caused by the loudspeakers.”

In defiance to the actions of the Israeli Knesset, Arab Israeli Knesset members Ahmed El-Tibi and Teleb Abu Arar performed the call to prayer, independent of each other, in the Israeli parliament (Knesset).