Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Knesset National Security Committee chair Zvika Vogel are advancing legislation that would ban mosques from operating loudspeakers for the adhan — the Muslim call to prayer — without a government-issued permit. Under the proposed bill, permits would no longer be granted automatically but would require “careful examination.” Violations would carry fines of up to 50,000 shekels, and police would be authorized to seize mosque sound equipment on the spot.
Ben-Gvir characterized the call to prayer as “excessive noise” that “harms residents’ quality of life and health.” He called the adhan “an unacceptable phenomenon.” The legislation, he argued, would give police enforcement tools they currently lack.
The bill is not the first attempt. Ben-Gvir issued directives last year instructing police to begin seizing mosque loudspeakers — particularly in Palestinian cities within the 1948-occupied territories — citing complaints that the call to prayer “disturbs settlers.”
The adhan has been practiced continuously in Palestine for more than a thousand years. It is not a noise complaint. It is a religious obligation that predates the Israeli state, and that Ben-Gvir — who has called for the execution of Palestinian prisoners, led raids on Ofer Prison to film himself stomping on detainees’ heads, and advocated for the annexation of Gaza — now wishes to place under state permit and police enforcement.
This legislation is not about noise. It is about erasure — the slow, legislative dismantling of Palestinian religious identity in the places where Palestinians still live. The British Museum removed the word “Palestine” from its displays under pressure from the same legal network that targeted Ghassan Abu-Sittah. Israel is now moving to silence the sound of Islam from its minarets. These are not separate projects.
Ben-Gvir Is Pushing a Bill to Silence the Muslim Call to Prayer Across Occupied Palestine
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Knesset National Security Committee chair Zvika Vogel are advancing legislation that would ban mosques from operating loudspeakers for the adhan — the Muslim call to prayer — without a government-issued permit. Under the proposed bill, permits would no longer be granted automatically but would require “careful examination.” Violations would carry fines of up to 50,000 shekels, and police would be authorized to seize mosque sound equipment on the spot.
Ben-Gvir characterized the call to prayer as “excessive noise” that “harms residents’ quality of life and health.” He called the adhan “an unacceptable phenomenon.” The legislation, he argued, would give police enforcement tools they currently lack.
The bill is not the first attempt. Ben-Gvir issued directives last year instructing police to begin seizing mosque loudspeakers — particularly in Palestinian cities within the 1948-occupied territories — citing complaints that the call to prayer “disturbs settlers.”
The adhan has been practiced continuously in Palestine for more than a thousand years. It is not a noise complaint. It is a religious obligation that predates the Israeli state, and that Ben-Gvir — who has called for the execution of Palestinian prisoners, led raids on Ofer Prison to film himself stomping on detainees’ heads, and advocated for the annexation of Gaza — now wishes to place under state permit and police enforcement.
This legislation is not about noise. It is about erasure — the slow, legislative dismantling of Palestinian religious identity in the places where Palestinians still live. The British Museum removed the word “Palestine” from its displays under pressure from the same legal network that targeted Ghassan Abu-Sittah. Israel is now moving to silence the sound of Islam from its minarets. These are not separate projects.