Israel has OK'd a bill to make mosques quieter. The bill says loudspeakers at mosques during the call to prayer are too loud and damage people's quality of life. The call to prayer happens five times a day. The first time is at dawn and the last is after sunset. The bill has to pass a few more stages to be law. An Israeli politician said, "hundreds of thousands of Israelis suffer regularly" from the loudspeakers announcing prayer time.
Israel's Prime Minister supports the bill. He said: "Israel is committed to freedom of religion, but it must also protect citizens from the noise." An Arab politician said the bill was racist and its aim was, "to create an atmosphere of hatred…against the Arab public". A critic of the bill said it would, "hurt all of society and the efforts to establish [harmony] between Jews and Arabs". Arabs make up roughly 20 per cent of Israel's population.
