Palestinian officials slam Israel’s ban on Muslim call to prayer

The Palestinian government and the Mufti of Jerusalem today condemned the upsurge in Israeli violations against Muslim sanctities, the latest of which being the banning of the call to prayer.

In a press release issued today, Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Hussein said the legislation to silence the call to prayer are not new but they are advancing attempts by the Israeli government to divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque temporally and spatially between Muslims and the Jewish settlers.

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Israeli ministers yesterday endorsed a draft bill to ban the Muslim call to prayer. The contentious legislation claims the ban is an effort to prevent noise.

Hussein added that its legalisation infringed on freedom of worship and is an effort to obliterate the area’s Arab identity.

The approval by the ministerial committee means the draft will be presented before parliament for an initial reading, sent back to the committee and then passed as a law.

In statement released yesterday, Palestinian government spokesperson, Youssef Mahmoud, described the law as “unjust and dangerous”, adding that it “deprives the followers of divine religions to perform their religious duties”.