Israel has quite a few reasons to be proud, but when it comes to corruption, it should definitely be ashamed. With a score of 60 out of 100 (enough) in the corruption index published today (Thursday), and after three consecutive years of deterioration, Israel is only nine places above the “red line” of the corrupt countries, with the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Chile and Estonia above it. Far, far away, Denmark and New Zealand lead.
The Global Corruption Perceptions Index 2020 (CPI) is determined by the international transparency organization Transparency TI – International. In Israel, the index is published by the Israel International Transparency Association, one of the 100 branches of the global organization TI.
The index has existed since 1995 and is considered the most common tool in the world in assessing the extent of corruption in the public sector in various countries, and serves as an effective tool that allows companies and organizations to get an overview of countries regarding doing business with them.
Chairman of the Israel International Transparency Association – Judge (retired) Judge Nili Arad points to the demand for transparency as a means of dealing with the damage of the corona and undermining the foundations of democracy.
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“Israel’s low place in the corruption index is particularly severe in 2020, when the corona is raging among us,” says Arad. “The lack of transparency in the activities of the government and its emissaries is the initial threat that leads to a lack of trust and a lack of cooperation required from the public in dealing with the serious health and economic crisis in the country’s history. All this while witnessing the violation of the foundations of democracy, in circumstances where leaders are suspected of crimes, in an atmosphere of ongoing incitement against gatekeepers in the judiciary and media, who are forced to do their job faithfully in an evil atmosphere of extremism and sectarianism.
According to the index’s findings, Israel is ranked for the second year in a row with a low score of 60 and is shuffling in 35th place out of 180 countries. In the 2016 index, Israel received a score of 64 and was ranked 28th. In the 2017 index, Israel received a score of 62 and dropped in the ranking to 32nd place. The score continued to fall in the 2018 index and reached 61, which ranked Israel 34th. In 2019, the score continued to fall to 60 and 35th place, as in the 2020 index. A score of 60 is only nine places away from a score of 50 (insufficient), which is the “red line” from which the countries that are perceived as corrupt are located. The UAE, for example, received the score 71 and it occupies the 21st place, Estonia with the score 75 comes in 17th place, Chile with score 67 in 25th place, and Qatar with score 63 takes 30th place.
In Israel, it is customary to compare the state of the country to the OECD countries, and here the situation is even more worrying: Israel is in the bottom third (25th place) among the 37 member states, along with Slovenia, Poland, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Hungary.
Advocate Tomer Naor, the legal adviser to the Movement for Quality of Government, in response to the publication: “A democratic state that wants a life is not examined whether or not there is governmental corruption, but its degree of readiness to fight that corruption to the fullest. Unfortunately, after years of progress, the State of Israel, our dearest of all, has been going backwards in recent years. Government corruption never stops upstairs. Invalid governmental norms seep down with tremendous speed, and if we do not stop them early, we will find them in local government, in the various regulators, in all those who run our daily lives. We must fight corruption, and fight the corrupt. We have no other choice. “