Guest Post by Yosef Rabin on The Shalit Demo

The Children Warriors of Leftist Fundamentalists

A few thoughts following the Gilad Shalit March

I was amazed, shocked and disheartened. As thousands gathered to shout their support for paying any price for the release of Gilad Shalit, dozens of dissenters could be found throughout the crowd. All around the center of town, small groups gathered to protest not the release of Gilad Shalit, but the dangerous price tag that would come along with it. That is not what bothered me, because the truth is that I also participated in a couple of those mini protests. What shocked me was the reaction of the children. The vulgar terms of Nazis and Terrorists were used time and time again by the children participating in the Shalit protest against the dissenters. The dissenters were attacked left and right, their signs were ripped up, but their moral stayed strong. I was standing next to a woman who had lost a child in a terror attack, she had made a poster explaining the attack her son was killed in and why she opposed the shalit price tag. She was not even immune from the terrible verbal assaults.

What was even more shocking was the indifference of not only the police who stood by and watched, but the parents who almost smiled in approval of their youngster’s insanity. Had this had been a rightist demonstration and someone had yelled out “Nazi”, not only would that person been arrested, but the media would have rushed to condemn the entire camp as dangerous fanatics. The hypocrisy is amazing! I watched as channel 2 was broadcasting very close to one the dissenting protests and even as children were verbally and physically assaulting our small group, the media made sure not to cover it. They had the reporter facing towards the street, so that the action would not be seen in the background.

I got a group of children to calm down for a moment and asked them how old they were. They answered that they were nine and ten. I reminded them that about 8 years ago during the height of the second Intifada, Jerusalemites were afraid to go into buses, shops, restaurants as they were being blown up left and right. I asked them if they were willing to have the war return to the streets of Jerusalem for Gilad? They fanatically answered that were ready to die by the hands of terrorists in order for Gilad to come home! The leftist’s propaganda machine has truly done a number on these children. These children are the Shahidim of the left, ready to sacrifice themselves on the alter of leftist fundamentalism. So I guess the extremist are not who everyone thought they were after all.