The Knesset plenum approved a bill to curb what it terms unreasonable noise from mosque loudspeaker systems in a preliminary reading Wednesday, passing by a vote of 50 to 36. The legislation, informally known as the Muezzin Law, was advanced by National Security Committee chairman MK Tzvika Fogel of Otzma Yehudit and will now move to the Knesset Committee, which will determine which panel will prepare it for further stages of the legislative process.
Under the bill's provisions, mosques and other houses of worship would be barred from installing or operating a public address system without a permit. Police would be granted authority to enter premises where a violation is suspected in order to halt the use of the system, and in cases of continued violation, to confiscate the equipment entirely. Operating a loudspeaker system without a permit would carry a fine of 50,000 shekels, while operating one in violation of permit conditions would bring a fine of 10,000 shekels.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a vocal supporter of the legislation, addressed the plenum during the debate, arguing that governance begins with noise enforcement and noting that residents in mixed cities and in the Bedouin dispersion alike suffer from the disturbance. He said the relevant statutes had gone unenforced for three decades and that the bill was meant to protect both public rights and effective governance.
Fogel, the bill's sponsor, said the issue was not a political one, arguing that no person or institution should be exempt from environmental and noise regulations, and that just as the law is enforced against event halls and private businesses, it must be enforced against houses of worship of every kind as well.
The bill passed with the backing of Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu, while United Torah Judaism's lawmakers were absent from the vote. Reports circulating around the vote suggested the absence was tied to a related dynamic in which Arab parties had themselves stayed away from a preliminary vote on the Torah study Basic Law, though JFeed could not independently confirm a direct linkage between the two absences.
The explanatory notes accompanying the bill state that noise from mosque loudspeaker systems operating around the clock is among the most severe noise disturbances in Israel and elsewhere in the world, and that for decades the public has been exposed to what the drafters describe as unbearable noise harming both health and daily routine, a phenomenon they say has persisted despite the passage of time. The notes point to precedents in Muslim-majority countries including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which the bill's authors say maintain clear restrictions on loudspeaker volume, with some nations effectively barring the use of such systems at mosques altogether.
Wednesday's vote marks the latest chapter in a legislative effort that first cleared a preliminary Knesset reading back in 2017 under a similar name, only to stall repeatedly over the years amid coalition disputes and opposition from Arab Knesset factions and, at various points, from Haredi lawmakers concerned about potential restrictions on the Shabbat siren. The current iteration, driven by Fogel and Ben Gvir, had been under discussion since late 2025.
