Almost Three-Quarters of Israelis say human rights organizations harm the state
A new study by one of Israel’s leading think tanks finds a sharp drop in Israeli’s faith in their public institutions. The study also shows a growing rift between Israel’s Jews and Arabs, with just 39 percent of Israel’s Arab citizens saying they feel part of the state.
When it comes to political institutions, just 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish citizens, and 12 percent of Israel’s Arab citizens have faith in their political parties, and just 26 percent of the Jews and 15 percent of the Arabs have faith in the media. Jews have the most trust in the army with a high rating of 90 percent, while just 32 percent of Arab citizens trust the army.
The findings were part of the Israeli Democracy Index of 2016, a yearly report produced by the Israel Democracy Institute and presented to Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin.
“An additional point with which we must deal is the public’s lack of trust in democratic institutions, which is very worrisome,” Rivlin said after receiving the report. “All of our public bodies and institutions must take an accounting of their actions to determine what is needed so that the public will believe that our democratic institutions serve them and are trying to be fair to them.”
The Israel Democracy Institute said Monday that the findings mirror the global trend of dissatisfaction and cynicism. These feelings are being reflected in Europe with Britain’s vote to exit from the European Union and in the US with the victory of President-elect Donald Trump.
“The dramatic drop in the public’s trust in its political institutions and politicians – the Knesset, the government and the parties – reflects an overarching pattern, which we are witnessing in other Western nations,” IDI President Yohanan Plesner said. “Yet, in an international comparison, we see that Israel’s political instability is rare in its intensity. This contributes to an even greater increase in the public distrust in the political process.”
The report came the same day that an Arab member of Parliament Dr. Basel Ghattas, was accused of smuggling cellphones into an Israeli prison, and giving them to two security prisoners.
“The suspicion against MK Ghattas is among the worst. If it will be proven true, the State of Israel will be required to react with a heavy hand,” Rivlin said. “Misuse of those democratic freedoms, especially with the goal of sabotaging Israeli security, is both outrageous and shameful. The Israeli democracy knows and will continue to know how to defend and protect itself against those who plot against it.”
The report highlighted existing tensions between Israel’s Jewish majority and Arab minority, which make up about 20 percent of the country. More than three-quarters of the Arab citizens of Israel said that Israel should not be allowed to define itself as a Jewish state, although more than half of Israel’s Arab defined themselves as “proud citizens” of the state.
There was a large jump in the percentage of Jews who agree that human rights organizations such as the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and B’tselem harm the state. The new report found 71 percent of Jewish Israelis agreeing with that statement, up from 56 percent last year.
“It’s alarming. For several years the political leadership describes these organizations as a danger so people pick up on what they hear from their leaders,” Mordechai Kremnitzer, director of the Center for Democratic Values and Institutions at the Israel Democracy Institute told The Media Line. “The leadership does not distinguish between criticism of the government’s policy and a hostile attitude toward the state.
President Rivlin has been outspoken on the need to protect democracy.
“The soul of any democracy is the existence of diplomatic alternatives and ideas and the willingness to enable a pluralistic and protected environment that encourages criticism, challenges and conflicts,” he said. It is forbidden for us to enable a situation in which I, or someone with different opinions from me, is marked, tagged or made into an enemy.”