Aliyah and Integration Minister Yoav Galant, a member of the Security Cabinet, on Monday raised the ire of residents of the Gaza envelope following an interview he gave to Radio Darom.
"We need to act using common sense," said Galant, who was asked by the interviewer how this calms the children of the south.
"My job is not to calm the children, my job is to take care of Israel's security according to the list of priorities," the minister replied.
Channel 13 News reported that angry parents photographed their children with signs that read "And who will calm me down?" and posted them online in response to Galant’s remarks.
Moran Hila Madmoni, a resident of Sderot, wrote, "I couldn't help but cry when I heard the interview."
She recalled that a few days ago she received a message from her son saying, "Let’s go to Grandma Devorah’s. I don’t have the strength for the sirens and I'm already stuttering, so you want me not to speak? Or do you want me to die from trauma?"
"Minister Galant, can you answer my son's questions? Explain to my eight-year-old son that he is not on your list of priorities - because I am no longer able to," Madmoni wrote.
Later on Monday, Galant issued a statement of clarification in which he wrote that "Israel's security is above everything else. The firing of rockets, even one, is an act of terrorism and an attempt to challenge our presence in this country - we will not accept it. We will not accept a situation where Israeli children are being fired at and we stand pat and do nothing. The security and safety of the children of Israel and the Gaza envelope are at the top of our priorities, because they are the future of us all."