How the call to prayer is uniting Israel's Arabs, ultra-Orthodox
Ultra-Orthodox Knesset members have joined forces with Joint List Knesset members in objecting to the bill preventing the muezzin call to prayer.
On Nov. 15, before the so-called Muezzin Law, which states that the noise level of the muezzins’ loudspeakers needs to be limited, was presented at a preliminary reading in the Knesset, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Yahadut HaTorah Party, Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman, blocked the advancement of the controversial bill. The appeal he submitted regarding the decision of the ministerial committee on legislation, which authorized the bill, was based on the fear that the bill would silence not only the muezzins but also the Sabbath sirens that sound off in ultra-Orthodox population centers every Friday evening to announce the beginning of the Sabbath.
The minister’s appeal received warm responses from the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties. The chairman of the party, Knesset member Ayman Odeh, said in response, “I thank Minister Litzman for submitting the appeal and blocking the reading of the bill, and I truly believe that today a significant step was taken in the cooperation of the disadvantaged in our society.” Joint List Knesset member Ahmed Tibi also praised the ultra-Orthodox and said that in the past, when Yesh Atid Chair Yair Lapid raised the draft law for enlisting the ultra-Orthodox, there were those who pressured Tibi to vote for it. But the ultra-Orthodox explained to him that this is their most sensitive issue, and thus he decided to abstain. Now, he says, the ultra-Orthodox are returning the favor.
An internet survey conducted on the ultra-Orthodox Kikar Hashabbat website showed that 42% support the blocking of the Muezzin Law, as opposed to 57% who oppose the blocking of the law. In conversations Al-Monitor conducted with the ultra-Orthodox, it seems that opinions are indeed divided on Litzman’s move.
Yehudah Fisher, a resident of the settlement Beitar Illit, which neighbors the Arab villages of Husan, Batir and Wadi Fuchin, is angry about the blocking of the law. “The sounds of the muezzin are a serious environmental nuisance that we hear loudly five days a week, including at 4 a.m. for several minutes,” he told Al-Monitor. “The Sabbath siren sounds once a week, in the afternoon, for a few seconds. I’m willing to give up the Sabbath siren, which I think is unnecessary as it is, to silence the noise of the muezzin.”
