Mosque (illustration)
Mosque (illustration)Thinkstock

Motti Yogev, (Jewish Home) is optimistic that his proposed bill banning the use of loudspeakers in houses of worship will win coalition support and pass into law.

Meant to end the loud Muslim call to prayer blasted five times a day over loudspeakers from mosques across the country, the law allows exemptions to be issued in special cases.

The bill faces its first hurdle on Sunday when it will be presented to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. Yogev claims the proposal already has the backing of both the Likud and Kulanu parties.

The Ministerial Committee is a little-known but enormously powerful body within the governing coalition. The committee, which is made up of government ministers, convenes once a week to formulate the coalition’s official position on pending legislation.

Support from the committee ensures that faction leaders will require members to vote in favor of the law, essentially guaranteeing the bill’s passage, barring last minute surprises. Failure to win the committee’s support, however, would make passing such a controversial law, which is likely to anger opposition parties in the left, all but impossible given the coalition’s narrow 61-59 majority.

Yogev’s “Mosque law” is not the first legislative attempt to quiet the Muslim call to prayer.  In 2011, Anastasia Michaeli (Yisrael Beytenu) proposed a similar law. Despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s pledge of support for the bill, it ultimately failed to pass.