RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation has approved a draft law to ban the use of speakers for calls to prayer in mosques in Jerusalem and Arab towns within the Green Line. Kol Israel in Arabic reported that the committee will present the law to the Knesset following hours of deliberation. The committee's statement attached to the decree cited as reasoning that the call to prayer is a form of noise pollution.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his support for the decree at the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting Nov. 13, before the ministerial committee approved it. He said he will back the law once it reaches the Knesset, and he would urge all his ministers to do the same, according to Haaretz.