Gazans protest Israeli law limiting Muslim prayer call

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinians on Thursday protested in the Gaza Strip to condemn this week’s Knesset vote in which Israeli MPs approved a first reading of proposed legislation restricting the use of loudspeakers to amplify the Muslim call to prayer (adhan).

Participants at the protest, which was organized by the Islamic Jihad group, held banners aloft, reading: "You cannot silence our adhan!" and "Our adhan is louder than your tyranny!”

In a speech delivered at the protest, leading Islamic Jihad member Ahmed al-Modallal declared: "This bill is only the latest in a long list of Israeli crimes against the Muslim faith.”

“We won’t allow such a law to pass," he asserted.

"From the besieged Gaza Strip, we declare that the adhan will not be silenced in the mosques of Jerusalem," he said, calling on all Palestinian factions “to unite to confront this Israeli decision”.

On Wednesday, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved a preliminary reading of a controversial bill that would ban the use of loudspeakers to amplify the adhan -- in Israel and Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem -- between 11pm and 7am.

The bill -- if passed -- would impose fines on violators ranging between the equivalent of $1,300 and $2,600.

Second and third readings of the draft law must still be approved by a majority of Knesset members before the legislation becomes law.