Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Israeli Court Says Shouting Allahu Akbar Can Amount To Breach of Peace

In Israel last week, a Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ruled that shouting Allahu akbar (God is great) at a group of Jews on the Temple Mount can be the basis for a conviction for disturbing the peace. According to The Algemeiner, the court wrote in part:
[chanting] Allahu akbar during prayer, at a site of prayer and in the spot in the prayer [book] where it is called for does not constitute a breach of the peace, but a fundamental right. However, when those calls are used as a form of demonstration or protest, or as a way of creating a riot or unrest, they do not constitute prayers and are therefore a clear disturbance of the peace.