Trust in law enforcement in decline, survey finds

Trust in law enforcement has plummeted among Israelis over the past year, according to a new poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute.

The survey, which took data from 600 Jewish respondents and 150 Arab respondents, found that 65% of Israelis have little to no faith in the Israel Police, as opposed to 33% who say they have a decent amount or great deal of trust in the force.

Among Jews, there has been a seven-point drop in trust in law enforcement, from 42% in October 2024 to 35% this year. Trust in law enforcement also declined among Arabs, from 27% to 19% during the same period.

The sharp decline has occurred over the course of a particularly violent year, as Arab society is caught in an unrelenting deadly crime wave that has claimed 233 lives since the start of 2025.

The poll finds that 80% of Arab Israelis fear that they or a family member will be hurt by violence. Among Jews, only 34% responded that they feel the same.

Violence against women, among both Jewish and Arab Israelis, has also been on the rise, with 45 women killed this year so far, up from 42 in all of 2024 — the last one being a young woman who was fatally shot last night outside a supermarket in Jatt, an Arab village in central Israel.