Citizens of Jerusalem on Saturday night demonstrated outside the home in Jerusalem of Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas), in protest of his failure to back a law that would prohibit places of worship from using loudspeakers which disturb residents.
During the protest, the demonstrators emulated the call of the “muezzin” – the Muslim call to prayer – so that Deri feels what they are going through.
The bill, proposed by MK Motti Yogev (Jewish Home), is designed to end the loud muezzin call to prayer played from mosque loudspeakers five times a day across the country.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is scheduled to vote on the law on Sunday.
“The noise of the call of the muezzin should have been taken care of years ago,” Jerusalem City Councilman Aryeh King, who took part in the demonstration, told Arutz Sheva.
“Tomorrow, a bill on the issue sponsored by several MKs from several parties was supposed to be put to a vote. Unfortunately, Shas of all parties, which most of its Jerusalem voters live in neighborhoods like Neve Ya’akov, Ramot, Pisgat Ze’ev and Gilo – it does not stand alongside its voters, and we expect that Aryeh Deri would be the first to sign the bill and that we wouldn’t have to beg him to do so,” he added.
“We said that if he hears this at 11:00 p.m. he might understand what Jerusalem residents are going through. I’m sure the bill will pass, with or without Deri,” said King.
The “mosque bill” was to have been voted upon last March but was removed from the committee’s agenda before the meeting.
In 2011 a similar bill was proposed by then-MK Anastasia Michaeli of Yisrael Beytenu. The bill won the support of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, yet ultimately failed to pass.