Israelis fear democracy remains in ‘grave danger’

The majority of Jews and Arabs in Israel believe that democratic rule in the country is in “grave danger”, according to this year’s Israeli Democracy Index.

Just over half of Jewish Israelis — 54 per cent — feared for its democracy, while the percentage was much higher among Arab citizens — 77 per cent.

While the overall mood in the country improved from May to October, still fewer than one in five Israelis believe the country’s situation to be “good or very good”.

The proportion who felt it to be “bad or very bad” dropped to 48.5 per cent in October from the 60 per cent who felt so in May, according to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), which presented the findings of its annual survey to the country’s president Isaac Herzog on Tuesday. This was likely due to developments in the war against Hezbollah in the north, the institute suggested.

Nevertheless, for all the problems, nearly two thirds of both Jews (65 per cent) and Arabs (67 per cent) believed Israel was a good place to live. But whereas 56 per cent of Jewish Israelis were optimistic about its future, 59 per cent of Israeli Arabs were pessimistic.

The IDF remained the most trusted public institution (by 77 per cent) in October this year, three times more than the government (23 per cent). But trust in the IDF was slightly down on its multi-year average (79.5 per cent).

The Shin Bet security agency and Mossad retained the trust of more than half the public, according to the IDI — far more than the police, whose trust rating dropped after the events of October 7 last year and continued to fall (from 55 per cent in December 2023 to 37 per cent in October 2024).

Most Israelis believed that in times of trouble they could rely on their fellow citizens rather than the state, although there was a marked difference between Jews and Arabs. Among the Jewish majority, 81 per cent would rely on their fellow-citizens for support as opposed to 25.5 per cent the state, while an almost equal share of Arabs would rely on the public (62 per cent) and the state (61 per cent).

The survey found a “significant but temporary” increase in assessments of solidarity among Israelis after October 7 and while this fell over the year, it remained higher than previous years.

While only a quarter of Jewish Israelis felt very secure, more than 70 per cent stated Jews were safer living in Israel than anywhere else.

Among Jews, the highest social tension was felt to be between the political left and right, while Arabs felt the greatest tension to be among Jews and Arabs.

President Herzog commented that “the decline in public trust between Israeli citizens and state institutions, reflecting a trend that has become even more pronounced over the past year, deeply troubles me”.

He believed that “the erosion of public trust cannot be separated from the troubling and violent culture of confrontations and accusations of blame on social media and in the public sphere” and all this was interconnected with “the upheaval we are experiencing as a society and as a country”.

Describing trust as the “greatest asset of any nation,” he said, “At a time when many are concerned about the erosion of democratic values in Israel, I want to emphasise: Israeli democracy has no substitute."

Yohanan Plesner, president of the IDI, said, “The sharp decline of public trust in government agencies and democratic institutions reflected in this year's Democracy Index should serve as a glaring warning signal.”

He added, “The irresponsible weakening of institutions that have served as a source of Israel’s strength and prosperity for decades is a dangerous phenomenon, especially in time of war. Our leaders have much work to do, and time is of the essence.”