JERUSALEM (JTA) — Some 58 percent of Israelis believe that the country’s leadership is corrupt, up from 43 percent in 2014, a survey found.
The Israel Democracy Index, conducted for the 17th year, also found that 60 percent of the Jewish Israeli public believe the Israeli government should not take into account the views of Diaspora Jews when making important decisions. Fifty-one percent of Israeli Jewish respondents said they believe that Jews the world over share a common destiny.
The final report on the survey was presented Tuesday to President Reuven Rivlin.
Among the survey’s other findings:
- The Israel Defense Forces remains the most trusted Israeli institution by 90 percent of Jewish Israelis, followed by the presidency (71 percent) and the Supreme Court (55 percent).
- Less than half of Jewish Israelis trust the police, at 44 percent. The figure for Arab Israelis was 38 percent.
- Among the least trusted institutions are the media (36 percent for both Jews and Arabs), the government and Knesset (30 percent) and political parties (14 percent).
The IDI survey was conducted by its Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research in May 2019, before two failed attempts to form a government following national elections and before corruption charges were announced against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The survey interviewed 1,041 people, 852 identified as Jews and others and 162 identified as Arabs. The maximum sampling error was plus or minus 3.1 percent.
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