Israel Demcracy Institute (IDI): 2020 Israel Democracy Index
IDI recently published its 18th annual Israel Democracy Index, a survey of public opinion the status of Israeli democracy. Conducted in June, findings show indicators were “already on troubled ground in mid-2020.” Declines of 10-20% of Jews and Arabs who saw Israel’s overall and their own personal situation as good or very good “do not reflect the tremendous turbulence and collapse of public trust in Israel’s leadership in subsequent months.” Yet these findings do reinforce trends related to longstanding rifts in Israeli society, not least between Jewish and Arab society. For example: 81% of Arabs and 57% of Jews believe that Arab citizens of Israel wish to integrate into Israeli society, while only 44% of Arabs feel ‘part of the state of Israel and its problems,’ compared to 84.5% of Jewish Israelis. 70% of Arabs but only 36% of Jews support Arab parties joining a governing coalition.