Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Israeli settlers use children, why not New Yorkers too?

This made the Jerusalem Post, but for some reason the New York Times had nothing on it. Or at least not easily findable, I'm not sure if the numbers were exaggerated or the Times felt for some reason it wasn't front page/searchable.

Here's my issue with it. I understand there are Americans that support the Israeli settlers and disagree with disengagement. I have no problem with that. Here is what I think is wrong:

A couple of thousand people jammed a busy midtown Manhattan street Tuesday afternoon for a prayer, song and protest rally against withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Organized largely by the Lubavitch youth organization Tzivos Hashem, the rally brought hundreds of Orthodox children from New York area summer camps to the demonstration, some of them leading the crowd in prayer and declarations of solidarity with the settlers of Gush Katif.

"The land belongs to every Jew who ever lived, and no one has the right to give away even one inch, especially if it puts into danger the lives of other Jews," one young boy declared from the podium.


Reciting psalms in shrill voices, the children were cheered on by teenagers and adults standing across the street on Broadway, just south of Times Square.

What kind of parent uses their child? How realistically do these young children even know enough about the whole situation in the Gaza to even decide they want to protest? If you disagree with something, as an adult, protest! But to use your child in an attempt to get headlines to me is wrong and realistically your ability to be a parent should be questioned. This borders on child abuse from an emotional standpoint. I don't care if it is save the trees, save the whales, save Smokey Bear, don't use children. If you as their parent feel it necessary to include them in your protest be responsible about it.

This is not responsible.

2 comments:

Editor said...

It was described by the organizers as a "prayer rally" not a political protest.

As you quoted the children recited psalms, which is a form of prayer.

The theme of "not one inch" is a Jewish religious legal principle to safeguard Jewish lives and is apolitical.

Unknown said...

Respectfully, I disagree.

The Jerusalem Post reported it as:

A couple of thousand people jammed a busy midtown Manhattan street Tuesday afternoon for a prayer, song and protest rally against withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

The disengagement is partly a political argument, it is also a religious based argument.