Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas said Shas's decision to support the muezzin bill, which would restrict mosque call-to-prayer broadcasts, was 'very disappointing and despicable,' and accused the religious party of violating the biblical command to not oppress the stranger. Abbas's statement came as Shas voted to advance the legislation in a preliminary Knesset reading.
Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas sharply condemned Shas on Wednesday for backing the preliminary reading of the muezzin bill, which would place restrictions on loudspeaker broadcasts of the Muslim call to prayer. Accusing the Sephardic Haredi party of supporting 'racist, anti-religious' legislation, Abbas said Shas's choice was 'very disappointing and despicable' and that he had expected a religious party to follow the biblical command: 'You shall not oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.'
Shas's support for the bill came after United Torah Judaism announced it would abstain to preserve its coalition arrangement with Arab MKs, as The Zioneer reported earlier Wednesday. Shas's decision broke with the previous alignment, and Abbas's rebuke underscores the politicization of the legislation. The bill is expected to pass its preliminary reading with support from coalition parties including Shas and Yisrael Beytenu, which also announced its backing today. The Ra'am leader's statement did not indicate any change in his party's coalition commitment.
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