BICOM

A Knesset conference yesterday, organised by rival MKs from Likud and Zionist Union, called for the proposed Muezzin Bill to be dropped in favour of the issue being resolved through dialogue between local religious leaders.

The conference was spearheaded by Likud MK Yehuda Glick, a committed advocate of Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount, and Arab MK Zuheir Bahloul of Zionist Union.

Bahloul said: “Legislation does not need to manage our lives; true dialogue should.”

He added: “The cooperation between MK Glick and me is the essence of ‘yes’ to understanding and dialogue.”

Glick said: “We are not here to be forceful; we’re here to make agreements.”

He added: “There is no reality in which my God commands me to disturb you. He commands us to live together.”

The conference was also attended by Christian and Druze religious leaders including a former Chief Rabbinate director- general and Chairman of the Committee of Imams in Israel.

The event comes in response to a bill proposed by Jewish Home MK Motti Yogev, which would ban the use of loudspeakers to amplify the Muslim call to prayer between 11pm and 7am. It was drafted in response to complaints about excessive noise in certain built up areas and is scheduled for a first Knesset vote today.

Arab List MKs have called the bill “‎unconstitutional and anti-democratic,” while it has been opposed by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid and others as unnecessary and inflammatory. President Reuven Rivlin has also raised concerns over the bill.

Yesterday’s conference proposed dropping the bill in favour of local committees of religious leaders in each municipality, plus an inter-religious committee under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office, to resolve any outstanding disputes.

A resolution agreed by conference attendees called for “dialogue between the sides” and stated that “the right to religious worship is God-given and not a matter of legislation. This right was also recognised in the Declaration of Independence”.