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Israelis: Corruption prevails (Illustration)
Photo: Tal Shahar

Poll: 88% view Israeli politicians as corrupt

Majority of Israelis distrust elected leadership; 82% call government fight against fraud ineffective

A perhaps unsurprising new survey found that 88% of the Israeli public believes that the nation's political parties are corrupt, according to the results published Thursday.

 

With more and more Knesset members finding themselves indicted, ministers supporting laws that bypass High Court of Justice rulings, and an entire government is trying to shift responsibility for the recent natural disaster in the Carmel, the findings came as little shock.

 

Approximately 1,000 Israelis participated in the poll, which was conducted by the Israeli branch of the Transparency International organization in preparation for International Anti-Corruption Day, being marked on Thursday.

 

The participants ranked the level of corruption on a scale of 1-5. Israeli political parties received the worst average score of 4.5, with some 76% saying they believe that the corruption level has risen in the last three years.

 

No optimism in fight against fraud

The Israeli public did not show much optimism for the fight against fraud; 82% of the participants said that the government's efforts to curtail corruption have been ineffective. It is the highest level of disapproval of all the nations within the OECD, which Israel has recently joined.

 

Other recipients of low marks were the Knesset and the religious establishments, with an average ranking of 4, and public service officials, with an average ranking of 3.9 on the 1-5 corruption scale. The police received a grade of 3.5, the private business sector scored 3.4, and the Israeli media got 3.2. The IDF fared the best of its counterparts, with a grade of 2.6.

 

Four percent of the participants admitted to being involved in bribery over the past year, compared to 26% to the worldwide survey.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.09.10, 09:38
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