As the new academic year begins, it seems that a profound shift has taken place in the relationship between Israel’s younger generation and the state.
We continue to do our part – to serve, study, work, and volunteer – yet those who are meant to guide, protect, and shape our future appear to have forgotten their role as leaders.
While the government focuses on slogans, renaming wars, and attacking the judicial system, it is the young generation that keeps Israeli society functioning – almost entirely on its own.
We are a generation that had to grow up too quickly – not by choice, but by cruel necessity. When friends fell, homes were emptied, and reserve duty became routine, we realized we no longer had the privilege to stop.
We learned to manage on our own, but for the state, that self-reliance became a habit. It learned to lean on our natural sense of responsibility instead of building a system that secures our future.
Personal cost of war on students
The personal cost of this role reversal is clearly visible among students. Most juggle work and studies while struggling daily with debt, exhaustion, anxiety, and uncertainty.
Nearly half of Israel’s students suffered financial hardship due to the war, yet most still managed to complete the academic year. They continue to get up every morning and choose – again and again – to build their lives and the future of Israeli society.
Perhaps this is Israel’s deepest problem today: personal resilience has replaced public policy, individual burden has replaced collective responsibility, and a strong work ethic has replaced a functioning welfare system.
The perseverance of students has become an excuse for the lack of investment in them.
Students have lost faith in the government, many leaving Israel
The latest National Student Survey, released this morning, only reinforces what we already see on the ground: the vast majority of students continue to move forward, but they are waiting for the moment when the state will finally share the burden fairly among all its citizens.
It’s not out of complaint but rather recognition that even the extraordinary resilience we’ve shown over the past two years has its limits. That limit is slowly, steadily cracking.
More than half of students believe the government doesn’t care about them, and a quarter are seriously considering leaving Israel.
The war may be ending, but its ripples will affect students’ academic and personal lives for years to come. Hundreds will continue to serve long stretches of reserve duty, many evacuees still lack permanent housing, and the security situation can change overnight.
Unless a true national response is given to the critical issues – from housing and wages to mental health and economic stability – the situation will only worsen. Our personal resilience is no substitute for responsible leadership.
We will not stand idly by. Not in the face of a reality where the government insists on carrying on as if nothing has changed, trying to have it both ways, while young people are simply trying to build a life here.
Uncertainty has become our second nature, and the responsibility to care, to fight, and to fix has become almost inseparable from our daily lives. But this is not a healthy norm.
This is not how we secure the future of the next generation, nor how we prevent a brain drain. A healthy society cannot rest solely on the shoulders of its youth. A state that asks only what it can demand from its young citizens – without asking what it owes them – has forfeited its moral right to lead.
We have done our part. Now, it’s your turn.
The writer is chairperson of the National Union of Israeli Students.