‘Azaan’ in Israeli parliament to protest against ‘anti-Azaan’ bill

Jerusalem [Israel]: An Arab parliament member raised the ‘Azaan’, the Muslim call to prayer, in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) to protest a controversial bill that would limit the prayer call.

Ahmed al-Tibi, member of the Knesset, said his move was meant to protest the Israeli bill that aims to bar mosques from using loudspeakers for the call to prayer in East Jerusalem and Arab communities in Israel.

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“This law reflects the fascism that grows inside the Israeli community,” Tibi told Anadolu Agency in exclusive statements.

Tibi was joined by Taleb Abu Arar, another member who also started the Azaan and went on to complete it, despite great hue and cry by the other members of the Jewish parliamentarians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed a bill limiting the number of calls to prayer from mosques.

“I cannot count the times – they are simply too numerous – that citizens have turned to me from all parts of Israeli society, from all religions, with complaints about the noise and suffering caused to them by the excessive noise coming to them from the public address systems of houses of prayer,” the Prime Minister said.

Israel’s population is roughly 17.5 percent Arab, most of them Muslims, and they accuse the Jewish majority of discriminating against them.

East Jerusalem is also mainly Palestinian and traditional calls to prayer by muezzins through public address systems can be heard in the city.

With inputs from ANI