A January study by a Jewish foundation suggests few Israelis would support a ban on the construction of minarets on mosques — a plan that came to pass in Switzerland last year when 57.7 per cent of voters unexpectedly banned new minarets in a national referendum.
According to a telephone survey sponsored by the New York-based Foundation for Ethic Understanding, 43 per cent of Jewish Israelis would oppose a similar ban on the construction of minarets in Israel, 28 per cent would support such a ban and 29 were undecided. The research was based on a survey of 500 people in Israel.
The Switzerland minaret ban was spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which argued the towers used to call Muslims to prayer were symbols of political power and not theological requirements in Islam. The country’s four existing mosques are unaffected by the ban.
