The associations with the Palestinian intifada could not have been more obvious, which was probably what angered government spokesmen most of all. Parents have no right to bring children to such events. To confront children with soldiers is scandalous. Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, chairman of the independent National Council for the Child, is equally emphatic. But we regard it as a cynical exploitation of children for adult goals.
Demonstrators see the matter very differently, however.
Better the trauma of being carried away by a soldier now than facing a catastrophe later. People abroad think these demonstrations are over a political disagreement, but we feel that we're headed for a new Holocaust. So the demonstrations are more a catharsis for our children than a trauma. At least they see that we're doing something. But Kadman suspects that the demonstrators bring their children to potentially violent events because their presence has the desired emotional impact, if not on the broader public then at least on the soldiers facing them.