Turkey Slams Israeli Bill to Reduce Volume of Muezzins

Turkey’s deputy prime minister has criticized as “unacceptable” an Israeli proposal that would make mosques reduce the volume of loudspeakers issuing their call to prayer.

Speaking following a Cabinet Monday, Numan Kurtulmus told reporters the proposal was contrary to religious freedoms and went against Yerushalyaim’s historic multi-religious culture.

Kurtulmus said: “Bringing the restrictions on the call to prayer at Al-Aqsa and other mosques on the agenda is in no way acceptable.”

Supporters of the Israeli bill have argued that the issue is a matter of quality of life, but Arabs have seized upon it as an attack on their religion.

The progress of the legislation was stalled last week, however, as chareidi MKs objected to it on the grounds that it could also be used to shut the sirens that sound in many Israeli cities to signal the onset of Shabbos.