Poll: Israelis Lose Faith in Legal System

YERUSHALAYIM

Public confidence in the Israeli judicial system has hit rock bottom, according to new poll reported by Arutz Sheva on Sunday.

Public faith in the High Court to fulfill its duties reached an unprecedented 22 percent who said they fully trust the judges to do their job, the Geocartographia polling firm found.

This compares with a 1991 poll that found that 41 percent of Israeli Jews said they had full faith in the high court.

While in 1991, 80% of Israelis – both Arabs and Jews – said they either totally trusted or had a large degree of faith in the Supreme Court, today, just 56% of Israelis said they placed a significant level of trust in the court.

The number of those who have given up on the court have quadrupled, from 3 percent who had no faith in it in 1991 to 12 percent in 2016.

Confidence in the State Comptroller’s office has also fallen dramatically. While 80 percent of Israelis had total or a large degree of trust in the State Comptroller in 1991, just 55 percent said the same in 2016.

The Knesset fared better. In 1991, 27 percent had a significant level of trust in the legislature; 23 percent had a similar level of faith in the Knesset in 2016.

Professor Degani of Geocartographia said the results were a warning sign for Israeli democracy.

“It is very important for Israeli democracy to take account of the fact that most of the Israeli public doesn’t trust the Knesset. In general, the situation of Israeli democracy is worrisome when so few people have faith in the two agencies [the High Court and Comptroller] which are supposed to act as a check on the executive branch.”

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