So, the absolute majority of the population considers the judicial system to be little or no effective and expresses in varying degrees distrust of it. It is logical that the absolute majority is convinced of the need for appropriate reform. What caused the mass actions that swept around the country? We asked about the goals behind the proposed reform. The data obtained show that the majority of respondents are convinced of the selfish goals of proposed reform: 46% in their capacity unequivocally assert the personal interests of some members of the coalition, 43% – the Prime Minister’s desire to influence the course of the trial of him.
A significantly smaller share of respondents is unequivocally convinced in good goals of ongoing reform. They believe that it is designed to improve the legal system – 31%, strengthen democracy in Israel – 29%. (Table 7).
To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following possible reasons regarding the true objectives of legal reform?
Answer options | Agree | Agree partly | Disagree | Don’t know | Total | Index | Sum |
The goal of the reform is to promote the personal interests of some members of the coalition | 46% | 20% | 25% | 9% | 100% | 31 | 54,5 |
The reform is being carried out to help the Prime Minister influence the course of his trial | 43% | 17% | 28% | 12% | 100% | 23,5 | |
The goal is to strengthen democracy by devolving powers from a judicial system that is not elected by public to society-elected politicians | 29% | 22% | 40% | 9% | 100% | 0 | 4 |
The goal is to improve the legal system | 31% | 22% | 38% | 9% | 100% | 4 |
To give a more weighted assessment of the answers, we calculated indices[1] in which, the higher its positive values, the more support the corresponding answer option receives; the opposite is also true.
Refer again to Table 7, where the results of index calculation for each response option are presented. The respondents express the greatest agreement with statements characterizing the illegal, non-democratic, selfish goals of the reform – the promotion of the personal interests of some members of the coalition (31) and the impact on the course of the trial against the Prime Minister (21.5). The sum of the values of these indices (45.5) significantly exceeds the sum of the values of the indices, which characterizes the conviction of the “good” goals of the reform (4), of which are “Strengthening democracy in Israel” (0), “Improving the legal system” (4).
On the one hand, the conviction in private-possessive interests hiding behind the reform, on the other, is a discrepancy or lack of obvious, understandable to people correspondence between the declared key directions of the reform (Limiting the powers of Supreme Court and changing the system of judges election[2]), and the problems of judicial system, which the population considers the most significant (its slowness and bureaucratization), show the complete inconsistency of proposed reform with the needs of citizens and make its low support obvious.
It should also be assumed that such an interpretation of reform real goals, as well as protest activity, to a certain extent reflect the attitude towards its initiator – B. Netanyahu. Indirect evidence of this is that a relatively large part of the respondents (25%) considers him the main perpetrator of the political and social situation deterioration after the judicial reform advancement (Table 8). However, this statement is only a hypothesis that needs to be tested.
Whom do you consider the main perpetrator of the political and social situation deterioration after the judicial reform promotion?
Answer options | Entire sample | Answer options | Entire sample |
Prime minister | 25% | Lawyers | 1% |
Coalition | 19% | Religious sector | 3% |
Opposition | 10% | International organizations | 1% |
Trade Unions and Labor Organizations | 0.4% | Protest organizations | 8% |
Businessmen | 4% | Media | 14% |
Foreign governments | 0.2% | Find it difficult to answer | 14% |
Academicians | 0.4% | ||
Total 100% |
Regarding the specifics of understanding the reform goals in various groups of respondents, we note that respondents born in the countries of the former USSR, more often of those who born in Israel and in other countries, call the reform goal is to promote the personal interests of some members of the coalition (58% versus 45 and 52%), but significantly less often – democracy strengthening (18% vs. 29% and 39% in other groups) and legal system improvement (14% vs. 31% and 39%, respectively). That is, just people from the former USSR are less convinced of good intentions of this reform. (Table 8.1.)
Proportion of those who agree with each of the reasons (by country of birth):
Answer options | Israel | Countries of the former USSR | Other countries |
The goal of the reform is to promote the personal interests of some members of the coalition | 45% | 58% | 52% |
The reform is being carried out to help the Prime Minister influence the course of his trial | 42% | 45% | 47% |
The goal is to strengthen democracy by devolving powers from a judicial system that is not elected by public to society-elected politicians | 29% | 18% | 39% |
The goal is to improve the legal system | 31% | 14% | 39% |
[1] The index of agreement with each of the reasons, calculated using the formula: n1 +1/2 n2 – n3, where n1 – the proportion of those who chose the “agree” answer option; n2 -“partly agree”, n3 – “disagree”.
[2] https://daily.afisha.ru/context/25397-sudebnaya-reforma-v-izraile-zamorozhena-v-chem-ee-sut-i-pochemu-ona-vyzvala-massovyy-protest/ ; https://www.vesty.co.il/main/news/article/hkrpghmcs