The Israel Democracy Institute published its annual Democracy Index report for 2021 on Thursday, showing that a majority believe the Supreme Court should "have the power to overturn laws passed by the Knesset if they contradict democratic principles."
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However, a deep dive of the data shows that Israelis believe the court has been abusing this authority and would prefer that it be used only for extreme cases. On top of that, a plurality of respondents agreed that political views influence the decisions of Supreme Court justices.
When asked "How fair was the judge's ruling (among those who have had involvement with the legal system)?" 33% of right-wing respondents said "fair" and 40% said unfair. When left-wing respondents were asked the same question, 51.5% said "fair" and 12% said "unfair."
The report, which has been published annually for the past 19 years, was handed to President Isaac Herzog on Thursday. It is designed to gauge the public's trust in state institutions and the strength of Israel's democracy.
According to the report, some 63% on the Left believe the State Attorney's Office is "only" or "largely" professional, but on the Right, the situation is the polar opposite: 63% said that prosecutors actions are "mostly" or "only" motivated by political considerations.
When it comes to the degree to which people have trust in the Supreme Court, the downward trend continued and for the first time, it dropped below 50% among Jews (from 52% to 48%). Among Arabs, it dropped from 60% to 44%.
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