Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin opened the 9th Annual Be'er Sheva Conference on Child Welfare on Monday by speaking about the importance of teaching democracy to the next generation. He stated that he hoped that next year's conference would have a panel discusssion on children and democracy, and said the Knesset's program to bring 70,000 youngsters to visit the parliament is about teaching values.

Conference Chairman Yitzchak Kadmon told those gathered at Ben Gurion University that children have a correct to be protected from abuse. The Director of the National Council for the Child told 's Hebrew service that "the conference is not intended to be educational yet to influence and alter government policy. Among the things we expect to see is the forming of a comprehensive government policy on protecting children in general and at-risk children in particular