[SPUTNIKNEWS] Jerusalem's new mayor, Moshe Lion, is working on a proposal that would quiet the call to prayer broadcast by the city's mosques and give police the power to intervene if the religious message is deemed to be too loud.According to Israel's Hadashot TV, local leaders in Paleostinian and Arab East Jerusalem neighborhoods like Beit Safafa, Beit Hanina and Shuafat are involved in working out the proposal. "Our goal is to deal with this issue with all the relevant parties so that all those involved will be content," Lion said, according to the network's Tuesday report.
The noise reduction program calls for mosques' loudspeakers to be replaced by new devices that are limited to lower volumes, and would also allow police to alter the volume of loudspeakers found to be exceeding set limits. The budget reportedly set aside for hardware replacements is about $13,000 to $19,000. According to a 2016 report by Israel's UN mission, there are 73 mosques in Jerusalem.