The pampering of young people in Israel could end in a security disaster

I read that bus companies (once cooperatives like Egged and Dan, and today additional companies) are desperate for drivers. What haven't they tried there? From good conditions for candidates, through bonuses for those signing a long-term commitment, to bringing in foreign workers.

Now they are banking on discharged soldiers, and without getting into the thick of it, I must admit that I am not sure about the success of the move: Firstly, because it is unclear how many young people will choose a career behind the wheel, and secondly, because with all due respect to our children, I do not know how advisable it is to let a 22-year-old driver with very little traffic experience drive a vehicle carrying dozens of passengers.

Let's get off the bus and we will discover that wherever we turn, there has been a crazy decline in the willingness of young people to work in jobs that once employed students and youths: Guarding, waitressing, cleaning, and the list goes on. In the restaurant industry, for example, they are desperate for working hands. What do I mean by desperate? They offer a salary – which young people could only dream of in the past – to those who are willing to work as waiters, kitchen staff, and dishwashers.

The problem, it should be noted, is not only local: Almost the entire world is experiencing a decline in the motivation of young people in the labor market. The reasons are varied: High unemployment benefits, student scholarships, and rent control, especially in developed countries; add to that crazy real estate prices, which cause young people to remain living in their parents' homes, meaning they only need a "pocket money" budget – and here is another reason not to work too hard.

There is also a claim that this is a sort of "rebellion" against the parents' generation, which accumulated wealth and property at the expense of personal pleasures. That is to say, there is no idleness out of laziness here, but rather an attempt not to be like the parents – who subjugated leisure and quality time in the family embrace to a career.

I grew up in a middle-class family in Haifa. My father was a locksmith and my mother was a private kindergarten teacher, meaning – both were self-employed. We were not rich, but I lacked nothing in my childhood and youth. When you add to this the fact that I am the youngest child, raised almost as an only child, from the distance of years I will admit that it is possible I was a bit spoiled... there was one thing they never compromised on with me: On working during vacations.

It's not that they forced me to work, heaven forbid, but if I wanted money to go with the guys to Eilat, I worked with my father for a while to fund the trip. Did I need a season ticket for Hapoel Haifa games? I repainted my mother's kindergarten – and so on.

From ninth grade until my conscription into the army, a routine was established for the summer vacation: I worked throughout the entire month of July – and with the wages I received, I enjoyed life during the second half of the vacation.

Upon my discharge from the army, I immediately flew to Australia (I funded the ticket using savings from my Bar Mitzvah), where I worked for nearly eight months in construction, and supplemented my hours packing clothes for a Jewish "shmatte" trader. Looking back, I don't know how I held out: Eight hours on the scaffolding and then another few hours in clothing deliveries – and on top of all that, also going out, though mostly on weekends and... speaking of the World Cup in the USA: I still woke up every day at dawn to watch the games of the 1990 World Cup (Italy).

What did I do with the money? I invested most of it in travel – initially in Australia, then in the East, and finally even in South America. When I returned to Israel, I took advantage of the fact that my resume included (in addition to very unimpressive matriculation grades) combat and command experience, and I enrolled in a security guards course. The work in security helped me sail through my university years, during which I also married, and amazingly, my then-wife and I also purchased a two-and-a-half-room residential apartment.

In Europe, the immigrants arrived mainly from former colonies in Asia and Africa – and during the years of the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellites, also from Eastern European countries. In the US, one of the first countries in the world to enact immigration laws (paradoxically for a nation of immigrants), they came mainly from Mexico and Central and South American countries, and to Australia, migrant workers came from China.

Migrant workers, as a generalization, are mostly good people: Their goal is to improve their living conditions. It is usually the subsequent generations who turn out to be problematic: They are no longer grateful like their parents, but rather citizens – or to be more precise: Citizens of a secondary class (at least in their own eyes).

It is unclear to what extent Europe can continue to function in the face of waves of immigration, some of which do not attempt to integrate but on the contrary: To preserve their own ethnic-religious characteristics. What is certain is that in Israel, due to our unique security needs, it is impossible to contain a population of illegal migrant workers over time. At the time of writing, many of the second generation of migrant-refugees have already been sucked into a life of crime and violence. What will happen if they are, heaven forbid, recruited for terrorist activities?

Surprisingly, this time Benjamin Netanyahu was truly among the first to recognize the danger, without any cynicism, and at the conclusion of serious staff work (parallel to the construction of the fence on the Egyptian border, the main entry gate for infiltrators into Israel), he devised a plan designed to deport those who could be deported from here, but also to naturalize the rest.

The second part turned his friends on the right against him, and it was they who forced him to shelve the plan. What happened? The children, half of whom he sought to deport and the other half to naturalize, became a police problem, with gang formations that recently made the headlines. If they are not handled properly (and to remove any doubt, not only through policing measures!), some of them will very soon become a problem for the Shin Bet... and then our trouble could turn into a real disaster.