Only a few hours after the start of the attack on Lebanon, 200 peace activists gathered in front of the Ministry of Defense to protest against it.

"One - Two - Three - Four / We do not want this war!" shouted the demonstrators, members of several organizations, youngsters side by side with veterans. Other slogans (roughly translated from Hebrew) were:
"Artillery and Qassams / The occupation is bad for everybody!"
"Peretz - you promised education and pensions / And all we got is tanks and dead bodies!"

"Exchange prisoners-of-war / Bring the soldiers home!"
"Peretz, Peretz, Minister of Defense / You have killed seven children today!"

The action of passers-by was much less hostile then anticipated. Some drivers shouted curses at the activists, but quite a number honked in agreement. Most drivers seemed to be fatalistic.

The police brought a much larger force than usual, including a special unit for riot control. It seems that they feared a blocking of the traffic by the demonstrators.

The veterans among the demonstrators were reminded of the first demonstration not far from there which took place on the first day of Ariel Sharon's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. That time, also about 200 activists gathered - but their number grew within a few weeks to ten thousand, until the 400 thousand gathered to protest the Sabra and Shatila massacre.