A law to muffle mosques' amplified calls to prayer in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem won preliminary approval on Wednesday in a charged parliamentary session where Palestinian legislators denounced the measure as racist.

Supporters of the bill say it is aimed at improving the quality of life for people living near mosques who have been losing sleep with the early morning calls through loudspeakers mounted on minarets.

"This is a social-minded law that aims to protect citizens' sleep, without, God-forbid, harming anyone's religious faith," said legislator Motti Yogev, one of the bill's sponsors.
Opponents say the legislation, sponsored by right-wing parties, is a targeted move against Israel's Palestinian minority, the majority of which is Muslim.

"You are committing a racist act," Ahmed Tibi, a Palestinian lawmaker, told supporters of the legislation.

The two versions of the legislation were approved after a heated discussion that turned into shouting matches between ruling coalition members and Palestinian MPs, some of whom tore up copies of the bill and were ejected from the Knesset's chamber.

The second of the versions approved on Wednesday would ban use of loudspeakers by mosques in residential areas between certain hours.

The proposed law will have to be reconciled later in the legislative process, with three more readings required before becoming law.
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The proposed law refers in general terms to "houses of worship", but it has been dubbed the "muezzin law" by the Israeli media, referring to the man who chants the Muslim call to prayer.
Authorities could impose a 10,000 shekel ($2,700) fine for violations.

Tzipi Livni, a leader of the center-left Zionist Union party and a former foreign minister, said "proud Israelis" should join together in opposing legislation that would only "spread hate and ignite tensions" between Muslims and Jews.

An estimated 1.7 million Palestinians - comprising Christians, Muslims and Druze - carry Israeli citizenship and live in cities, towns and villages across the country.
They make up nearly 20 percent of Israel's population.

According to the Adalah Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, more than 50 laws discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel by stifling their political expression and limiting their access to state resources.

Israeli politicians have said the country is committed to protecting the religious rights of all faiths and battling discrimination against its Palestinian citizens. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked outrage during a 2015 election when he urged his supporters to go to the polls because Palestinians were "voting in droves".

Under the proposed law, occupied East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that is not recognized internationally, would be included in the ban.

The bill, which covers only residential areas, would exclude the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site and located in a compound in Jerusalem's walled Old City.

PHOTO CAPTION

A man stands near a mosque opposite to a neighborhood in east Jerusalem November 13, 2016. REUTERS

Al-Jazeera