The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned a new ban on the Islamic call to prayer, or adhan, at mosques as the Israeli government’s latest act of war against Islam and repeated it call for Muslim-majority nations to take concrete action to end the Israeli government’s genocide.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he instructed police to ban mosques from broadcasting the adhan. Under the new policy, police are allowed to enter mosques and confiscate loudspeaker equipment if found to be in use. Mosques broadcasting the call to prayer would also be fined.
Ben-Gvir said the new policy will put an end to the “unreasonable noise from mosques, which have become a hazard for the residents of Israel.” [NOTE: In October, CAIR demanded that the Biden administration condemn Ben-Gvir’s call for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Ben-Gvir previously said that if he could, he would build a synagogue on the Al Aqsa Mosque complex. Today, Ben-Gvir said indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu is showing “some openness” to the idea of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, while former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon says Israel is engaged in “ethnic cleansing.” ]
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“A war on Islam and Christianity has always been a major component of the far-right Israeli government’s genocide targeting the Palestinian people. Attacks on mosques, churches, cultural sites, and religious texts are all part of the decades-long Israeli campaign to erase Palestinian culture.
“Unfortunately, the Biden administration has been complicit with this cultural erasure, systematic dehumanization and genocide. Through his actions and inaction, President Biden is enabling the suppression of religious liberties when that suppression targets Palestinians and Arabs.
“We repeat our call on Muslim-majority nations to use their collective power and take concrete actions to end this genocide.”
He added that last month, CAIR condemned an Israeli soldier’s obscene desecration of a copy of the Holy Quran.
Awad noted that Israeli authorities recently demolished a mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
He said that in August, CAIR said the Biden administration must speak out strongly to condemn the videotaped burning of copies of the Quran and destruction of mosques by Israeli soldiers in Gaza and end weapons transfers to the Israeli government to force an end to the genocide.
in June, CAIR called on the Biden administration to investigate reports that an American soldier taking part in the genocide in Gaza posted an image of herself and a destroyed mosque defaced with insults targeting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
In May and March of this year, CAIR said video of Israeli soldiers burning and tearing Qurans in Gaza is further proof of Israel’s ongoing genocide in targeting the Palestinian people and “shows the true face of the genocide.”
In December of last year, CAIR condemned the Israeli government’s celebration of Israeli troops who took over and desecrated a mosque in the West Bank as an “attack on Islam.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com