’Israel’ Launches New Attack on Palestinian Culture
Local Editor
A bill being put forward to the Zionist parliament, the Knesset, will, if passed, ban mosques from using loudspeakers to broadcast the call to prayer five times a day.
The bill has government backing and support from a significant number of legislators. And though it is currently being appealed, it is likely to pass should the vote take place.
The backers of the bill, which was originally intended to stop the broadcasting of nationalist messages, now claim that the goal is to curb "noise pollution."
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Zionist prime minister, claimed that ""Israel" is committed to freedom for all religions," and the proposed ban serves to "protect ["Israel's"] citizens from noise."
Assault on Palestinian Identity
Whatever Netanyahu said, the move to ban the call to prayer should be understood first and foremost as an assault on Palestinian identity.
The "Israeli" European settler colony project relentlessly manipulated and wholly changed the cultural features of Palestine in its imposition of supremacy over the land and the people who dwell there.
The Muslim call to prayer is a staple feature of our lands, and its significance extends well beyond its religious purpose. One cannot violently force a settler presence and then express annoyance at a defining feature of the indigenous people's culture.
As for the "noise" pretext presented by the backers of the bill, "Israel" is hardly concerned about the noise pollution it systematically inflicts on millions of Palestinians living under occupation.
The "Israeli" militarized drones hover over the Gaza Strip, often nonstop for weeks, causing alarm and distress and preventing Palestinians living there from sleeping at night. In Gaza, they call it "zannana," an onomatopoeia describing the obnoxious buzzing noise it creates.
The West Bank gets its share of drone noise as well, though perhaps not to the extent of Gaza. During the Jewish holidays in October, the drone loomed in the skies over al-Quds and Ramallah, and at workplaces each day, Palestinians compared how they were awoken or kept awake by its buzzing.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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