Israel: Ben Gvir targets Muslim call to prayer, in new provocation

He struck again. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Force) party, on Sunday ordered police to ban mosques from broadcasting theAdhanethe Muslim call to prayer. In an interview with the Israeli channel Channel 12, the Jewish supremacist justified this decision by claiming to want to fight against the “unreasonable noise” emanating from mosques, which according to him constituted “a risk for the inhabitants of Israel”. His directive states that Israeli police will now confiscate loudspeakers from mosques and fine them for non-compliance with the new rules.

A measure that follows previous efforts by the Israeli far right in recent years to ban the call to prayer by Muslim worshipers. In 2017, she notably went so far as to introduce a bill, called the “muezzin bill” – adopted at first reading then blocked – aimed at banning the use of loudspeakers by mosques. In 2013, a group of Jewish extremist activists accompanied by Itamar Ben Gvir broadcast theAdhane over loudspeakers in a Tel Aviv neighborhood, in an attempt to demonstrate how other Israeli citizens would be “constantly inconvenienced” by the call to prayer in other parts of the country.

Netanyahu government held responsible

Although the idea is not new, the measure has sparked controversy, particularly among Israeli Arab deputies. Mansour Abbas, head of the Joint List, a political party representing Palestinians in Israel, condemned the ban, accusing the minister of “pouring fuel on the fire and pushing Muslim Arabs to respond to his provocations.” . In a message published Saturday on the X network, Mansour Abbas added that the minister “failed at the al-Aqsa mosque and is today trying to provoke all the mosques.” Last August, Itamar Ben Gvir sparked international condemnation by calling for the construction of a synagogue on the Esplanade des Mosques, the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism. A few days earlier, he had led a group of more than a thousand Israelis on a controversial march through the religious site, performing Jewish rites in front of the Dome of the Rock, which is prohibited by the Jewish state according to the site’s statute.

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Known for his extremist positions, Itamar Ben Gvir has been accused in the past of links to an anti-Arab Jewish terrorist organization. His appointment as Minister of National Security in 2022 has sparked much controversy, even within the far-right coalition currently in power in Israel. Last month, Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara urged Benjamin Netanyahu to remove him from office, accusing him of politicizing the police force. Denouncing a measure aimed at “reinforcing the continued oppression of the Arab public” by taking advantage of the war in Gaza as a pretext to incite violence, Ahmad Tibi, a deputy from the left-wing anti-Zionist Hadash-Ta’al joint electoral list, held Benjamin Netanyahu personally responsible for the minister’s provocative actions.

Since October 2023, Israeli authorities have intensified their discriminatory policies against Palestinians in Israel, cracking down on protesters opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza. A month after its outbreak, the Knesset notably adopted an amendment, vague to say the least, making “consumption of terrorist content” a new criminal offense under the country’s anti-terrorism law.