Bibi doubles down on Herzog rebuke, support for anti-muezzin law

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to address the ministerial committee approval of a bill to legalize West Bank outposts, which was passed Sunday night despite his objections.

At the start of the weekly Likud faction meeting, the prime minister also makes no mention of the High Court of Justice’s rejection of the state’s request for an extension in demolishing the West Bank outpost of Amona, which is slated for late December.

Though he wouldn’t discuss specifics of the developments in the plans for the illegal settlement, Netanyahu says the government is “aware of the suffering of Amona residents, and we are working in a variety of ways to solve the problem.”

Instead, Netanyahu reiterates his call to opposition leader Isaac Herzog to apologize for calling settlers a “virus.” (Though Herzog has claimed his disease comparison was directed at the outpost legalization bill, and not settlers.)

The prime minister also explains his support for a bill, also passed by the ministerial committee on Sunday, which would prevent mosques from using loudspeakers to announce the muezzin, or call to prayer. The new law would “end the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Israelis,” he says, including Muslims.

He says Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked had asked him last night if he would rather delay the ministerial vote on the mosque bill, and “I told her, no, we cannot postpone.”

— Marissa Newman