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Survey: Israelis Increasingly Losing Faith in Government

by Associated Press

   JERUSALEM --

   A leading Israeli think tank on Monday said it has found that Israelis
   are increasingly losing faith in their government and most Israeli
   public institutions - findings that mirror the global trend of
   dissatisfaction and cynicism that helped propel Britain's exit from the
   European Union and the victory of President-elect Donald Trump.
   The Israel Democracy Institute also found a continuing nationalistic
   streak among the country's Jewish majority, with more than half of
   respondents in a nationwide survey opposed to allowing Arab political
   parties into the governing coalition.
   Tamar Hermann, an Israeli professor who led the research, said the
   study found a "value shift" away from Israel's traditional liberal
   democratic roots that should concern its leadership.
   "Israelis are shifting away from the cosmopolitan point of view to a
   more communitarian, nationalistic, ethnic, religious point of view,
   much like is happening in other countries," said Hermann, academic
   director of the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research,
   which compiles the annual Israeli Democracy Index.
   The study found a "significant drop" in the public's trust in Israeli
   political institutions.
   Trust in the Knesset, or parliament, fell to 26.5 percent from 35
   percent last year. Similarly, trust in the government fell to 27
   percent from 36 percent, and three quarters of respondents now feel
   their politicians are detached.
   Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said the findings were troubling and
   required national soul searching, adding that "at this moment of trial
   for democracies, we have to make an effort so that our democracy will
   be vital, strong and committed to all it citizens."
   The only institution that maintained its strong standing was the
   Israeli military, which is trusted by 90 percent of the Jewish public
   and 82 percent when the Arab minority is factored in.
   While Hermann cited "global trends" for the sentiments in the poll,
   Israel has been undergoing its own process of rising nationalism in
   recent years, driven by failed peace efforts with the Palestinians, a
   yearlong wave of violence in Israel and the West Bank, three wars
   against Hamas militants in Gaza and the growing political power of
   religiously motivated West Bank settlers in the government.
   The survey, for example, found that 71 percent of Jewish respondents
   believe that human rights groups, which have been harshly criticized by
   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, cause damage to the
   state. That was up from 56 percent a year earlier.
   Likewise, it found that 59 percent of Jews oppose having Arab parties
   as part of governing coalitions, and 52.5 percent of Jews believe that
   those who refuse to accept Israel as the nation state of the Jewish
   people should be stripped of their right to vote.
   Hermann said that Netanyahu should be "very worried" about the
   shrinking level of public trust in the government, but that overall he
   might be pleased by the growing nationalist tide in the country. "He's
   not going to cry over the result," she said.
   The Guttman Center is a division of the Israel Democracy Institute, an
   independent nonpartisan think tank. The survey interviewed 1,531
   adults, broken down between Jewish and Arab respondents, last May and
   had a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points for the Jewish sample,
   and 6.6 points for its smaller Arab sample.
   The survey included some bright spots, including a widespread consensus
   that Israeli democracy must be maintained and high support for freedom
   of speech.
   The survey also included comparisons with other countries, finding it
   average or above average in many key areas, such as freedom of the
   press and civil liberties. Israel ranked very high in political
   participation, and near the bottom in a measure of political stability
   and absence of violence.
   Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, urged the
   country's leaders to learn from the data.
   "While there is overwhelming support for the notion of democracy, the
   democratic brand is still very strong. But the understanding or
   interpretation of what democracy is all about in some respects is
   extremely thin and requires immediate action," he said.