72% of the public says that government corruption is very high, according to the 2008 Corruption Index for the Sderot Conference for Society of the Sapir Academic College. The comparative percentage of the public who that government corruption was very high was 69% in the 2007 survey and 68% in 2006.
Only 1% of the respondents said that government corruption was very low, down from 9% in 1997, 3% in 2006, and 6% in 2005. In the current survey, 45% of respondents said that the general level of corruption in Israel's government was very high and 40% said that it was much greater than before, similar to the figures in the 2007 survey, but 1.5 times the 28% in the 2006 survey.
The public perceives political parties, ministries, and the Knesset as especially corrupt. 37% of respondents say that local authorities are very corrupt, 33% say that personnel agencies are corrupt, 30% say that the media is corrupt, 29% say that the Israel Police are corrupt, and 27% say that the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) and its workers committees are corrupt.
Despite the economic crisis, banks are one of the few institutions for which the public's attitude has improved when it comes to proper conduct. The use of public funds for personal gain is perceived as the most egregious offense by public officials.
12% of respondents said that they personally knew someone who was involved in act of financial corruption, compared with 13% of respondents in the 2007 survey and 11% in the 2006 survey.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 25, 2008
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