JERUSALEM, July 1, 2026 (WAFA) – The Jerusalem Governorate warned on Wednesday of the repercussions of the Israeli Knesset's preliminary approval of the so-called "Muezzin Bill," which seeks to restrict the use of loudspeakers for the Muslim call to prayer in mosques, including in occupied Jerusalem and Palestinian communities in the 1948 territories, describing it as a declaration of religious war and a direct attack on freedom of worship and Islamic religious rites.

In a statement, the Governorate said the proposed legislation forms part of the Israeli occupation's systematic policy of targeting mosques, foremost among them Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Ibrahimi Mosque, and interfering in religious affairs.

It added that the bill adds to a series of violations committed by the occupation authorities and colonists against Islamic holy sites, including repeated incursions, desecration, and the burning of mosques, in an attempt to erase the Islamic historical presence and impose a Judaization character on the Palestinian land.

The Governorate stressed that the bill exposes the true nature of Israel, the occupying state, as an apartheid regime that uses its legislative tools to impose religious persecution. It described the measure as “legislative terrorism” aimed at erasing the Arab identity and warned that such policies could ignite a religious war across the entire region.

It added that the call to prayer is an Islamic religious obligation and an act of worship in which the occupation authorities have no right to interfere or prohibit.

The Governorate said that targeting the call to prayer reflects the growing extremism and hatred that now govern the occupation's policies toward the Palestinian people and their Islamic and Christian holy sites, and constitutes a flagrant violation of international laws and conventions that guarantee freedom of religion and worship.

T.R.