Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) lashed out Wednesday afternoon at a poll released at the Sderot Conference showing that most of the public thinks politicians are corrupt. “The poll is not based on facts and only on feelings of the public,” resulting in an unfair libel of politicians who never have been suspected of any wrongdoing, he said.

“The moment that a poll like this is published, it enters peoples’ minds as fact and is an injustice that “spills the blood” of innocent politicians,” he added. The poll showed that the Speaker, a veteran Knesset Member, ranked as one of the country’s most honest politicians.