Sderot residents protest State's dealing with rocket attacks
Photo: Amir Cohen
Get the kids out of Sderot
Children aren't supposed to be ducks in firing range
At the end of Education Minister Yuli Tamir's visit to Sderot, as she threw around promises of extra credit for high school students completing their matriculation exams and of financial aid for families to send smaller children to day camp over the summer, she was asked if it wouldn't be wiser to help children spend their summers away from Sderot and the "Red Dawn" early warning system, she said: "It wouldn't send the right message."
Rocket-Stricken Town
Shmulik Hadad
Dozens of Sderot residents march toward Beit Hanoun demanding security. Meanwhile, yeshiva students take credit for day of calm after rabbi holds special kabbalistic prayer service asking God to save the rocket-stricken town
Of all the empty words thrown at Sderot residents between Qassam to Qassam, these were the most frightening.
What's the message?
Just what "message" are the kids of Sderot meant to send, and to whom? Are photographs of babies shaking with fear the type of civilian determination Mrs. Tamir feels is praiseworthy? Will these images convince those firing the Qassams to stop? Why must children pay the price for the total inability of their government – both previous and current – to fulfill the most basic of their duties: Basic protection for civilians?
Frightened children are not meant to be ducks in a firing range, whatever the policies of the present government may be. Children should not be part of the messy ideological discussions surrounding the current stage of our conflict with the Palestinians. They are also supposed to be protected from empty promises about reinforced defense shields that are "on the way" (just when, exactly?) or some fantastic summer camp that will take their minds off it all. At least until the next siren goes off, that is.
In other places in the world, in other wars, people understood these things better than in Israel, here in the summer of 2006. When the children of London were evacuated from the city to escape the German blitzkrieg during World War II, no one claimed Britain was not "determined" enough to destroy the enemy, or that they were sending some sort of incorrect message. The only relevant message was the physical and emotional safety of children who cannot take responsibility for their own fates.
I'm not comparing, God forbid, the two situations. They are absolutely different, but the principle that should guide our decision makers is the same: We have nothing to "prove" – not patriotism or determination, not our ability to withstand pressure of our Zionist passion – by using children. Anyone who claims differently will bear responsibility for the next little victim.
Take a minute to look
If the education minister could stop throwing promises around for just a moment and look at the face of a child looking in vain for someplace to hide from his fear, she could come up with a better logical exchange for her "message." For example, she could organize holidays for these children in the center of the country, as we once did for the kids of Kiryat Shmona when the north was subjected to daily attacks from southern Lebanon.
These ideas may make for such great headlines, but if she had enough candor, she and her ministry would propose at least a few such proposals to Sderot parents, many of whom lack the ability to create such solutions themselves.
I'm sure the Education Ministry, together with a bit of the volunteering spirit that has yet to completely disappear from Israeli society, could help organize a much calmer summer for hundreds of kids than the one they are expecting. The "message" of such a plan would not be to flex our national muscles. Rather, it would show simple, human and obvious concern for the welfare of children who see through the lies that "we are doing our best" as they continue to shake with fear.
