Ninety percent of the Israeli public thinks that the country is tainted with corruption and over half say that corruptibility is a necessary prerequisite to success in the political sphere, according to the Israeli Democracy Institute's (IDI) annual Democracy Index, which was submitted Tuesday to President Shimon Peres.
The findings reflect a "growing mistrust of government institutions and strong anti-political feelings, together with a demand for the state to improve its functioning and resume its position as the main player in the political-social-economic arena," the report said. Only nine percent of those polled said that Israel has very little corruption, and only one in a hundred said that the country was entirely corruption-free. In general, the Israeli public is displaying a growing indifference to politics, the survey found, with only 60 percent showing interest in politics and only 43 percent admitting to discussing politics with their friends and family - down from 73 percent in 2006. The survey found that for the first time in many years, the public did not rate the Supreme Court as the top institution safeguarding democracy in Israel. Only 49 percent of those polled expressed their trust in the Supreme Court, as opposed to 61 percent in 2007. The study also gauged the public's assessment of various institutions, placing the IDF at the head of the list of institutions which the public trusts the most at 71 percent. Confidence in the president rose from 22 percent in 2007 to 47 percent. Approval of the police fell significantly, from 41 percent in 2007 to 33 percent.