President Rivlin receives the Democracy Index
President Rivlin receives the Democracy IndexMark Neiman

The 2016 Israeli Democracy Index was submitted on Monday to Israeli President Ruvi Rivlin by Israeli Democracy Institute head Yohana Plesner.

The polls showed the amount of faith Israelis have in their government has dropped dramatically since last year: Israelis' faith in the Knesset dropped from 35% to 26.5%, their faith in the government dropped from 36% to 27%, and their faith in the various political parties dropped from 19% last year to 14%.

As well, Israelis' faith in the government dropped from 42.5% to 40%, their faith in the Israeli Supreme Court dropped from 62% to 56%, and their faith in the president dropped from 70% to 61.5%. Israelis' faith in the media also dropped in the past year, from 35.5% to 24%.

The IDF however, is still trusted by 90% of Jews and 82% of the general population, having dropped from their 93% rating last year.

And despite the way Israelis feel about their government, 86% of Jews and 55% of Arabs are proud to be Israeli citizens.

60% of Israelis believe those who oppose the State's existence should still enjoy the right to free speech, but 52.5% believe those who do not accept Israel as a Jewish state should not be allowed to vote. And 71% of Jews and 23% of Arabs believe human rights organizations harm the State of Israel.

When it comes to security and the peace process, 71% of Jews believe decisions regarding peace and security concerns should be made only by Jews. 62.5% believe that the terror war requires Israel to ignore moral concerns and use every means available in order to prevent future terror attacks. As well, 51% believe the Shabak, police, and IDF should be able to freely interrogate all terror suspects and ignore the legalities which would otherwise be involved.

President Ruvi Rivlin said, "Israel's social structure and political challenges, as well as its demographics and location, are unique. Israel must deal with terror attacks and non-democratic enemy neighbors, and its democracy stands up to these challenges again and again."

He also said, "I am concerned over the fact Israelis are losing faith in their government. The Israeli government must examine itself and fix the problem, so the public will continue to believe in them. If the public does not believe in its government, democracy will slowly erode."

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg said, "This statistic points to a clear change in thinking among the Israeli public, and attests to the fact that the messages of last year’s “foreign agent” campaign were internalized by the majority of Israelis. Radical Left organizations that work against the state from within, funded by foreign governments and the New Israel fund, have been exposed for all to see and there is no coming back. Im Tirtzu will continue working to expose their dangerous activities and to distance them from centers of influence in the State of Israel."