The Israeli foreign minister has lauded Premier Benjamin Netanyahu for supporting a bill banning calls to worship from mosques in the occupied Palestinian lands.
 
Avigdor Lieberman claimed that the controversial proposal was a "legitimate" one, adding that "there are similar precedents in the Western world," the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday.
 
The bill, proposed by Yisrael Beiteinu Party member Anastassia Michaeli, is believed to be the first attempt to impose a ban on calls to worship from mosques since the 1948 Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
 
"I don’t want to re-invent the wheel. I’ve seen the kind of laws that were approved in Switzerland concerning mosques and in France regarding veils," Lieberman said, referring to the so-called Muezzin Law.
 
In a Sunday cabinet meeting, Netanyahu voiced support for the bill, saying that there was "no need to be more liberal than Europe."
 
The bill is part of a recent wave of legislation proposed by the Knesset, targeting Arabs and Palestinians in the occupied lands.
 
It would, however, need to win parliamentary approval to become law. Arab members of 120-member Knesset threatened earlier this week to appeal against the proposal if it becomes law.
 
(Press TV)