Labor Knesset Member Michael Melchior has proposed a bill to fund a government entity that would be established to preserve Muslim mosques and cemeteries that were abandoned in 1948.
"As an Israeli rabbi and one who often deals with the standing of Jews abroad I cannot tolerate what is happening here," Melchior said in an interview with Haaretz. "We must correct this, as is right for a democracy and in line with Jewish values."
The proposal, to be presented at the annual conference of Melchior's nonprofit Citizens' Accord Forum, will be accompanied by a list of sites that need significant rehabilitation, including a mosque in Tiberias and another near Herzliya. Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar was reported to be supporting the measure, which would include an allocation of NIS 8 million annually.