Israeli lawmakers have approved a bill that would ban the Muslim call to prayer (adhan) from being broadcast through mosque loudspeakers, according to local media.
The Knesset approved the bill in a preliminary reading as part of efforts to tighten enforcement against what it described as "mosque noise".
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the bill passed the 120-seat parliament by 50 votes to 36.
The bill was introduced by the Otzma Yehudit party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and was backed by the opposition Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party.
Under Israeli law, the bill must pass three further readings before it can become law.
The adhan is broadcast to notify Muslims of prayer times. Banning it from being played through mosque loudspeakers would significantly limit that function.
Rawhi Fattouh, head of the Palestinian National Council, described the move as a "crime" and a “legislative terrorism.”
It is “a blatant violation of freedom of worship and belief," Fattouh said in a statement.
According to Israel’s Channel 14, the proposed legislation stipulates that no sound system may be installed or operated in any mosque without explicit prior authorisation.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 7 October 2026. These are the top five things to expect from the CIS summit in Turkmenistan....
Russian strikes killed two people in southeast Kyiv overnight, local officials said on Wednesday....
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will make his debut at an expanded meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Turkmenistan...
Australian counterterrorism authorities are examining the links of the co-pilot accused of attacking the captain and attempting to take control of a flydubai flight bound for Israel. Authorities in New Zealand have also said they are investigating reports the suspect had spent time in that country.
Russia's health watchdog said on Tuesday that no cases of plague had been detected among anyone who had come into contact with a Siberian plague institute laboratory worker who died last week, and locals said their lives had barely been disrupted.
An Azerbaijani citizen died and another is missing after a cargo ship was attacked by a drone in the Black Sea, near the coast of Romania on Monday, 5 October, Baku's Foreign Ministry has said.
A large Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region has killed two people, damaged homes and sparked a major fire at a key fuel facility, according to Russian officials and military bloggers.
The German-Azerbaijani Connectivity Conference 2026 commenced on 6 October in Baku under the title “Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure, Transport, Logistics, Green Energy, and Digitalisation along the Middle Corridor.”
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 7 October 2026. These are the top five things to expect from the CIS summit in Turkmenistan.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will make his debut at an expanded meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Turkmenistan on Wednesday, the Kremlin has said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) project could become a cornerstone of economic transformation in Armenia and the wider region, while boosting investment and regional connectivty.
Central Asian countries are strengthening sanitary and quarantine controls amid the situation in Russia’s Irkutsk region. Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have introduced preventive measures following the death of an employee of a plague research institute in the city of Shelekhov.
Kazakhstan’s former navy chief, Kanat Niyazbekov, has been arrested after 14 servicemen died during military exercises in the Caspian Sea in September, Russian state news agency TASS has reported, citing law enforcement authorities.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment