The Israeli Democracy Index for 2022 of the Israel Democracy Institute published today (Sunday) shows that there is an unprecedented low in public trust in state institutions - only 33% of the public trusts the institutions, compared to 61% about a decade ago.
At the bottom of the index are the media (23%), the Knesset (18%) and the parties (9%), while the Supreme Court is trusted by 42% of the respondents in the index.
On the other hand, there was an increase in public trust in the IDF (85%) and the President of the State (62%) compared to last year. The index also shows that 57% of respondents believe that the Supreme Court should have the authority to annul laws enacted by the Knesset, if they are against the principles of democracy. Large disparities in support among Arabs (87%) compared to Jews (51%), as well as among the left and center (89% and 70%) compared to a minority on the right (37.5%). In addition, the index shows that 85% of Jews and 82% of Arabs It is believed that politicians care more about their personal interests than the public that elected them.
The polarization deepens.
A demonstration against the government's reforms in Tel Aviv, yesterday (Photo: Reuven Castro)
In response to the report, President Yitzhak Herzog said: "From the moment I was elected, I placed the disputes and divisions in Israeli society as one of the most urgent issues for me. Therefore, I am very concerned about the data found in the report submitted to me. These are difficult data that join other parts of the report that reflect the internal tensions within us In other words - our cohesion is weakening, and we must do everything to rebuild it."
"I believe that the right path begins with responsibility. The responsibility of every citizen, and more importantly - our responsibility - the elected officials. I intend to continue to act and devote my best efforts to this issue," Herzog continued.
"Solidarity and belonging are critical to our resilience, and we must work to establish and strengthen them - day by day, hour by hour."
The president of the Israel Democracy Institute, Yohanan Plesner, referred to the reform to weaken the justice system that the Minister of Justice is seeking to pass, and stated that the public opposes the plan.
"The set of initiatives promoted by the Minister of Justice will, cumulatively, lead to the crushing of the principle of separation of powers, to the control of the executive authority over the judicial authority and to the elimination of the ability of the Supreme Court to protect the individual from the arbitrariness of the government," he said.
"The citizens of Israel and public leaders from all sectors are obligated to do everything in their power to curb these dangerous unilateral initiatives. Along with vigorous and determined activity to stop the initiatives, it is time to go for a move that will be based on a broad group of public representatives and experts in which they will discuss and formulate the constitutional chapters that will restore stability, reduce the polarization and will serve as the basis of the Israeli regime."
The director of the Viterbi Center for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy at Prof. Tamar Herman's institute added: "The 2022 index indicates the worsening of the fragmentation of the public's positions according to affiliation to political camps, to the point that it is not clear that there remains a common Israeli base on questions of principle as well as on practical questions regarding the nature and manner of conduct of the State of Israel Also, looking back 20 years, it seems that on many issues there has been an erosion of the public's attitudes regarding the basic principles of democracy, in the Jewish public mainly regarding the civil equality between Jews and Arabs. Also, there has been a clear decline in the desire for the State of Israel to present a balance between the democratic aspect and the Jewish aspect, when Except in the secular public, in the Jewish majority group the growing preference is for the Jewish aspect."
"The right path begins with responsibility."
Herzog next to Justice Minister Levin (Photo: Reuven Castro)
The Israeli Democracy Index for 2022 of the Israel Democracy Institute was compiled by Prof. Tamar Herman from the Viterbi Center at the Israel Democracy Institute. This is the 20th year it has been published.
This year the report conducted a broader review and comparison of Israeli public opinion in the last two decades.
All data is also segmented by political leaning, degree of religiosity, sector and age.
The index was composed of a sample that includes 1,311 women and men aged 18 and over, of which 1,092 interviewees are a representative sample of Jews and others who were interviewed in the Hebrew language.
In addition to them, 219 interviewees who are a representative sample of the Arab citizens of Israel were interviewed in Arabic.
In order for the Jewish and Arab samples to accurately represent their share of the population in the State of Israel, the two samples were weighted according to religion and age.
The maximum sampling error for the general sample is 2.76% for the Jewish sample and 6.75% for the Arab sample.
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