TEL AVIV, Israel _ An Israeli Cabinet panel voted Sunday to endorse legislation that would silence mosque loudspeakers that broadcast the call to prayer.
The vote by the Cabinet panel on Sunday means the legislation will be introduced in parliament as a bill backed by the entire coalition � improving its chances for final passage.
The proposal would prohibit any place of worship �� including churches and synagogues _ from using loudspeakers. Politicians and legal experts say its aim is to target mosques, especially in mixed Arab-Jewish cities where some Jewish Israelis complain about predawn calls to prayer from Muslim houses of worship. Arab-Israelis make up about 20 percent of the country's population; 83 percent of that minority is Muslim, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.
Legislators in Israel's right-wing government have tried to advance the legislation in previous years. Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the first time.
"Israel is a country that respects freedom of worship for all religions," Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday several hours before the legislation was approved. "Israel is also obligated to protect those who are suffering from excessive noise of loudspeakers. This is what is done in Europe and this is what is done in some places in the Muslim world."
In India, the high volume level from mosque loudspeakers prompted a court petition to force imams to lower the sound; in Egypt, the government has tried to force Cairo mosques to transmit a standardized muezzin call provided by the central government, in response to complaints about the cacophony of calls from various mosques.
Motti Yogev, a member of the nationalist religious Jewish Home party who co-sponsored the bill, told Israel Radio that Muslim prayer authorities should send text messages or use mobile apps as a substitute. He also argued that the use of loudspeakers disturbed Muslims as well Jews.
But leaders of Israel's Arab minority see the bill as an effort to infringe on their rights to freedom of worship and said they would refuse to cooperate with the law if it is passed.
"This is a racist and outrageous law. The muezzin exists since before the establishment state. It's part of our faith and religion. Why are they suddenly today complaining about the noise?" said Sheikh Kamel Rayan, the head of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, who predicted that Islamic officials and clerics wouldn't comply with the law.
"We have no problem to talk about this through dialogue and negotiations, but not through a coercive law," Rayan said.
Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List party, which represents Israel's Arab minority, called the bill an example of "religious persecution" in an interview with the Israeli website Walla News. "The government is promoting militancy," he said.
Separately, the same Cabinet panel approved a proposal that would allow the government to retroactively legalize unauthorized Israeli settlement outposts.
The bill was backed by pro-settler parties in the coalition, who are seeking to find a way to shield unauthorized outposts from recent Israeli Supreme Court rulings ordering the government to raze Israeli buildings built illegally on land owned by Palestinians.
The settlement bill was opposed by the Israeli attorney general, who said that it would be difficult to defend against a court challenge.
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(Mitnick is a special correspondent.)
