[News] Seizure of mosque loudspeakers: Ben Gvir’s latest arbitrary decisions

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Seizure of mosque loudspeakers: Ben Gvir’s latest arbitrary decisions

Tuesday 3-December-2024 -
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NAZARETH, (PIC)

Under the cover of the ongoing bloody war in the Gaza Strip, National
Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir issued orders to police leadership to
tighten measures against the use of loudspeakers for the call to prayer in
mosques within 1948 occupied Palestine (Israel), particularly in cities
inhabited by Palestinians and settlers, such as Jerusalem, Ramla, Lod,
Haifa, and Nazareth.

Israeli army radio reports that this step responds to complaints from
Israelis who find the sound of the call to prayer “disturbing”. The
directives include the confiscation of loudspeakers used for the call to
prayer in mosques, and in cases where confiscation is not possible,
financial penalties are imposed as a punitive measure.

In a post on the platform “X,” Itamar Ben Gvir said, “I am proud to lead a
policy to stop the unreasonable noise coming from mosques, which has become
a danger to the residents of Israel.”

With the Israeli aggression that began on October 7, 2023, Ben Gvir has
intensified his inflammatory rhetoric, calling for the execution of
Palestinian detainees, the complete annexation of the West Bank, and the
resettlement in the Gaza Strip. He has also expressed his outright
rejection of any prisoner exchange deal with Palestinian factions in Gaza,
threatening to withdraw from and dismantle the government if such a deal is
made.


*The call to prayer will remain loud*Sami Abu Shahadeh, head of the
National Democratic Assembly in the 1948 occupied territories, said, “The
call to prayer will continue to resonate in all our villages and cities,
and we will silence the voice of racism and racists. Those who are
disturbed by the call to prayer should not live among us, as we reject
racism and will not allow them to dictate our lives in our towns and to
preserve our religious, cultural, and national heritage.”

Abu Shahadeh added, “It is unfortunate that Ben Gvir is not an isolated
case in Israeli society, but represents a broad current that enjoys ongoing
government support and submission to him and his agendas. This compels us
to struggle with various tools to preserve our rights to our land, nation,
and basic rights.”

Ayman Odeh, head of the Arab Joint List in the Knesset, said, “Ben Gvir is
a transient figure, no matter how powerful he becomes, and the call to
prayer is stronger than all racists and all man-made laws.” Odeh
confidently affirmed the strength of the call to prayer, warning against
efforts to create internal conflict among citizens. He cautioned all
institutions that the Netanyahu-Ben Gvir government is methodically and
deliberately leading toward this conflict.


*Igniting a religious war*Ahmed Tibi, head of the Arab Front and Change
faction, stated that “Ben Gvir is determined to ignite a religious war by
exploiting the atmosphere of war to please his electorate, suppress the
Arab community, and persecute Arab citizens. This time, he has targeted the
muezzins and mosques. We will struggle against this oppression and
Islamophobia.”

It is noteworthy that in late 2016, right-wing Jewish lawmakers proposed a
bill to ban the call to prayer in mosques in Jerusalem and 1948 occupied
Palestine. The bill was scheduled for discussion in the Knesset but was
canceled at the last minute.

At that time, Deputy Health Minister Rabbi Yaakov Litzman from the United
Torah Judaism party filed an appeal against the approval of the ministerial
legislation committee for the proposal to ban the call to prayer, which led
to the cancellation of the special session for voting on it in the first
reading. The Shas Jewish movement decided to vote against the bill, fearing
that its passage would lead to Jewish bloodshed, especially given warnings
that such a step would drag the region into a religious war, which led to
the failure of the proposed law at that time.

Arab Knesset member Walid al-Hawashlah said, “Our mosque minarets remain
tall, and the voices of the call to prayer resound, no matter how much a
fascist minister or a racist official tries to silence them. Ben Gvir and
his ilk are incapable of extinguishing the call to prayer. Israeli society
today calls for the release of hostages in Gaza, while the Prime Minister
and an entire state are hostages in the hands of Ben Gvir and religious
Zionist fascism.”

He added that the occupation and its fascist ministers are what the Israeli
society wants.


*Judaizing laws amid genocide*In this context, political analyst Yassin
Azdine said in remarks to the PIC correspondent that the Israeli government
is exploiting the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip to enact judaizing
laws. Azdine added that the occupation desires a war against Islam and
Muslims, emphasizing the need to confront these arbitrary laws with more
steadfastness and resilience.

He explained that the Israeli government aims to seize land and erase
identity, killing in the Gaza Strip, confiscating land and areas in the
West Bank, and attempting to erase identity and culture in the 1948
occupied Palestine. Azdine said that Ben Gvir and his ilk in the Israeli
government see this as the right time to erase the Arab Islamic identity of
Palestine, and the war on the call to prayer is one aspect of this declared
war.

He said, “They estimate that they can pass whatever they want in light of
the shameful Arab and Islamic silence and the complicity of America and
Europe, especially since the Trump administration includes anti-Islam
figures and will thus strongly support such steps.”

He stressed that Ben Gvir will not stop at banning the call to prayer,
which he describes as noise; there will be successive steps that may lead
to closing mosques or seizing them. Azdine concluded by recalling that the
occupation state demolished three mosques last month, two in Jerusalem and
one in the Negev.


*Calls for action*Hamas warned that the decision by the extremist Israeli
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to confiscate loudspeakers from
mosques in the occupied Palestinian territories of 1948 heralds an
escalation of a religious war that Israel and its leaders are trying to
ignite.

Hamas added in a statement on Sunday that Ben Gvir’s description of the
call to prayer as “noise” is “a serious crime and aggression against our
mosques and our people, and a new attack on freedom of worship.”

Hamas called on the Palestinian people in 1948 occupied Palestine to reject
this “criminal decision” and to take action to prevent the Israeli
authorities from tampering with sacred sites and religious rituals.

The Movement also called on the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation, and international organizations to condemn this heinous crime
and take steps to stop the Israeli violations against the Palestinian
people.

Hamas said that the “Israeli fascist war criminals must be brought to
account for their crimes against our holy sites and our people in Gaza, the
West Bank, Jerusalem, and the occupied interior, and against humanity as a
whole.”

Ben Gvir boasted on Saturday about confiscating mosque loudspeakers,
claiming they are “a source of disturbance.”
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