A survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), published in the Calcalist, has revealed some surprising findings about the haredi public’s attitude toward the Israeli government and ministries.
According to the survey, 90% of the haredi public trusts its rabbinical leadership – which was no surprise – but only 54% of haredi respondents said they trusted their political representatives in the Knesset.
Around 67% of haredim do not trust Prime Minister Netanyahu in general, and 62% of respondents said that they have no faith in the Prime Minister’s ability to manage the coronavirus crisis. Only 23% of haredim polled said they trusted the Health Ministry – 75% responded that they did not trust the Ministry at all.
When asked to explain what the IDI claimed was a higher rate of coronavirus infection in the haredi community than in the general population, 58% of respondents attributed it to the higher population density in the haredi community; just 4.5% thought that it was because of laxer adherence to government guidelines designed to curb the spread of the virus.
There was no great surprise to find out that a full 86% of haredim polled distrust the police, but when they were asked what they thought of the IDF and the Home Front Command, just 44% responded in a similar manner, while 47% said they did trust the IDF.
The Calcalist suggested that one reason for the change in attitude toward the IDF could be its recent programs providing assistance to residents of haredi-majority cities in strict lockdown earlier this year, although it provided no evidence to back up this claim.