Israel's "muezzin bill," designed to place limitations on the calls to prayer from mosques in mixed cities, was set to be debated by the cabinet in its weekly meeting on Sunday. The law, authored by MK Moti Yogev (Habayit Hayehudi) and having the support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation last week, but the next step in enacting the law -- presenting it to the Knesset plenum -- has been postponed because of opposition from Health Minister Yakov Litzman. Litzman argues that the law would also affect the "Shabbat siren," a siren sounded once a week on Friday evening to alert people that the Jewish Sabbath is about to start. Shabbat sirens are also employed in mixed cities, such as Jerusalem. Litzman is asking that the law be amended to explicitly permit the use of the Shabbat siren. The cabinet is expected to approve the minister's request, and also to approve the establishment of a committee that will ensure that the bill is worded in such a way that it will not single out any one religion, such as Islam. The proposal Litzman has submitted for cabinet approval stipulates that "the bill will not be taken forward after the preliminary reading until a joint team [that includes] the environmental protection minister [Zeev Elkin] and public security minister [Gilad Erdan] examines the matter, with the assent of the Interior Ministry, the Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Religious Services Ministry. Before the bill is presented for a first reading, it will be returned to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation for discussion." On Friday, some 2,000 people protested the bill in a number of Muslim communities, including Kafr Kanna, Kafr Qasim, Rahat, Kabul and Tayibe. Protesters carried placards that read "We won't silence the muezzin." Kafr Qasim Mayor Adel Badir took part in the demonstration in his city, as did MK Issawi Frej (Meretz), who also lives there. "Exempting the Shabbat siren from the muezzin bill proves to anyone who still needs proof that the bill isn't about noise, it's about racist and religious persecution," Frej said.
