Israel – Palestinians living near the Gutnick Center, a Jewish event hall in the Cave of Patriarchs area in Hebron claim they have been forced to listen to hours of Hasidic music being played every day in the center.
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The Jewish residents of the West Bank city, on the other hand, say they have been suffering for years from the sound of muezzin prayers and wedding gunshots coming from mosques across town.
According to evidence compiled by Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights organization, Palestinians claimed that the Gutnick Center placed large loudspeakers on the building, using them to play music at a very loud volume. They said the nuisance has made their lives a living hell, adding that some neighbors have even complained of hearing problems.
Tarek Mohammed Beitar, who lives directly across from the center, said that eight large speakers were placed on the roof and windows of the building, five of which face his house.
Video courtesy of Ynet.com
“Every time we turn to the police officers and soldiers to complain about the noise, they do nothing” Beitar told Ynet, adding that “sometimes they cooperate with the center’s management and ask them to turn up the volume.”
“After repeated pleas and almost two years of waiting, we were finally allowed to file a complaint with the Kiryat Arba police, but the problem is that the police does not take the complaint seriously.” Beitar said.
During the past few months, except for on Saturdays, the loudspeakers worked constantly from 6:30 am until 8 pm, “And this does not include days on which there are weddings and the celebrations continue until 2 am.”
“The situation is so grim, that my 2-year-old daughter asks me on Saturdays why the settlers are not playing music. She got used to these sounds. When my wife and I want to talk we have to yell. I cannot even hear the voice of the muezzin in the cave any longer,” he added.
The operators of the Gutnick Center had a completely different take on the story. According to Ofer Ohana, the center’s director, “The music played in the center for the past seven years is Hasidic background music which is pleasant to the ear; a hymn that accompanies explanations about the city of Hebron for the visitors of the center.”
“It is only played during the center’s activity hours which are 8am to 5pm, except for on special occasions like Independence day.”
According to Ohana, Kiryat Arba’s and Hebron’s Jewish residents suffer from the muezzins: “Some 7000 residents have been suffering for years from the crazy noise of the muezzins, the sounds of gunshots at weddings and fireworks that are being used regardless of the Ramadan holiday.”
“I have a mosque across from my house and my daughter wakes up from the muezzin. You can check how many complaints have been filed by our side,” Ohana added.
Ohana doesn’t blame his Arab neighbors, saying that “we’ve been playing music for years and nobody complained, but since these leftist anarchists from Germany and other places arrived at the area, they have been instigating and damaging the relationship between the neighbors.”
The actions of the Gutnick center are purely spiteful. There is no reason that the loudspeakers (which they claim are for the visitors) need to be playing music outside at such high volumes. Second, even yiddim should not be required to listen to this type of music at high volumes. If anything, they should be playing contemporary Isreali music which would be more acceptable to both sides.
What about does freaks
Ave C and McDonald Ave; five in the morning one could hear the Alah Akbar yelling.
“The actions of the Gutnick center are purely spiteful”. How do you know? There are two sides to the story here; why do you take their side of the story?
When I was living in the Old City those mosques would be blaring over their loudspeakers all day long, including 3 am. And it seemed that when there was something going on in the news that they didn’t like, they would raise the volume and for longer than usual. I have no compassion for these Arabs in Hebron. Their great-grandparents were the ones who massacred so many Yidden at the yeshiva 80 years ago.
we in williamsburg have it on election day only, so we shouldnt complain
inzier zat should put deflectors up which would cause their noise to reverb back at them. I never understood why that hasnt been done at the Kosel.
The yehudim are showing 2 can play that game. Nothing wrong with that!!
All I know is that there’s a big speaker war in williamsburg going on right now and I’d like to move away from this forsaken place.
No one should be subjected to music in a public place which he has no control over and can’t turn it off. Not everyone likes Chassidic music, not everyone likes the muezzin. All public noise should be banned. What is done indoors is private, outdoors belongs to everyone. When I was in Eretz Yisroel in Meron, in Tzefas, Amuka etc. I was bombarded with music I didn’t wish to hear. Why do people impose their music on everyone else?
How about a video of the arabs! Gunshots and the muzzein starting a t 3am. Why of only the jews?
I’m proud too write altough anon (the Obama admin might come ater me), that the arabs wherever and whenever they exist; are looking too destroy anything that is not to their desire. Guess who is on their list of extermination???
or come to crown heights on simchos beas hash….ya know what mean right? 😉
When Moshiach will come; hopefully soon (freaking Arabs like it or not); they will surely complain of the sounding of the shofar, ha-ha it’s going to help them a lot ‘LOL’.
Maybe the annoyed Arabs will move away. I like it…
Go, Gutnick Center, go!!!
G-d bless you for standing guard at our birthplace, the birthplace of our people, and one of our holiest cities.
G-d bless you and the amazing Jews in Hebron that have the courage that we all lack.
G-d bless you for your love and sacrifice.
Hebron has been forsaken by almost all, the people, the gov’t and the Jewish diaspora. The Arabs don’t like lively Jewish music. (pun intended) They’re not quite used to it. Its been awfully quiet in Hebron since the massacre of 1929. Very quiet. Does blood make noise? Do corpses make music?
That’s the way the Arabs like it, n’est pas. Well, its not 1929.
Time to make some noise. Time to make some music.
Hey, Gutnick Center, if you can hear us, turn up the volume!! Make the music of Jewish life, make it loud, make it freilach, make it leibidig!
The problem of the muezzin from the mosques exists throughout Yehuda & Shomron. What this means it wakes you up during the night, during your nap on Shabbat & drives you crazy during the day. It appears that they set it up deliberately to annoy the Jews. We don’t live that close to the neighboring kfar for it to bother us, unless set up accordingly.
we all know the arabs can do as they please without anyone saying anything, but if someone else does like they do and they do not like it they know how to call the human rights activist very fast. they tend to be double talkers!
how the little girl calls the Jews “settlers”.
Here (Chicago) there is an municipal ordinance that forbids loudspeakers from broadcasting more than 50′, under penalty of creating a “public disturbance”. *** Also, the picture with the article is that of an American soldier, in desert uniform, probably in Iraq (see the native Arabs in ‘dish-dash’ (long shirts) which is distinct to Iraqis. He is on top of an American Humvee vehicle with a speaker mounted on its roof. Nothing to do with the article.
thank you number 9 for writing those words. Very true and it saddens me that people on this website actually side with the Arabs.
Why not play traditional Sephardic music? That way, everybody’s happy.
Loudspeaker War Williumsburg
They play lebedige nigunim I think the Arabs should dance the Debka and Hora to
the music and stop whining.
Double Tourture!
Wedding gunfire? Gunfire at weddings is something only a barbaric and uncivilized people can do. Why do we care what uncivilized barbarians have to say?
Two wrongs don’t make a right. I think that the Gutnick Center could start their music at some sane hour, instead of 6am. If you protest the noise from the Mosques in the Old City, then play Chassidishe music in the Old City.
I honestly don’t understand why we can’t behave in a manner that shows we are decent human beings. Do we always have to prove that we can be just as obnoxious as the Arabs? I didn’t realize that was God’s Mission for us on earth. If so? Mission accomplished!
i never understood why israel lets the mosques play loud prayers on a speaker system at 5am – it disturbs the peace.
if the arabs don’t want to hear the jewish prayers/music on the loud speakers they should stop doing it themselves (its done all over israel)
I am sure if the Arabs would add some music to their announcement I might be less irritating, but we all know the Arabs are not going to budge. So let them have a taste of what we have to live with every night alaaaaaaAAAhhh! kwalaaaaaAAAhhh !galaaAAAaaaa! if you ever spent a night in Israel you’d know what I am talking about. SHANA TOVA TO ALL