55% of Israelis think recent lockdown was political

More than half of Israelis believe politics and not health was the motivation behind the current national lockdown, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute ( IDI).

When broken down by party, more than one- quarter of Likud voters ( 26%) agreed the considerations behind the decision on the holiday lockdown were mostly or only political. Some 81% of Blue and White voters and 51% of United Torah Judaism voters said they felt the same way.

The survey, the 13th of its kind since the start of the pandemic, also highlighted the lack of trust in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to manage the coronavirus crisis.

Some 63% of Israelis have “little” or “no trust at all” in the prime minister’s ability to lead the effort against the coronavirus, the survey found. While this is slightly less than the previous survey, it is much lower than during the first wave. Then, some 57.5% of the public reported trusting Netanyahu to manage the crisis.

The public does still express faith in coronavirus commissioner Prof. Ronni Gamzu ( 61%), the survey found. Also, close to half ( 45%) say they trust MK Yifat Shasha- Biton, the head of the Knesset coronavirus committee.

The survey was conducted online and through telephone calls between October 12 and 14. However, it was published the same week that tens of thousands of haredi ( ultra- Orthodox) yeshiva and elementary school students returned to their classrooms in violation of the coronavirus restrictions.

More than half of the public ( 69% of Arab- Israelis and 53% of Jews) believe that the hardim violated the lockdown regulations.

On the other hand, only 1% of haredim believe their community broke the rules, according to the survey.