For the second straight year, Israel placed 35th out of 180 countries on a global corruption index published Thursday.
Israel was graded 60 out of 100, just nine points above the redline of corrupt countries, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) stated. The grade for 2020, the same as in 2019, comes after Israel’s score dropped three years in a row between 2017 and 2019. In 2016, Israel ranked 28th in the world with a score of 64.
Israel ranked 25th out of the 37-member countries of the OECD, the report noted.
“Israel’s low place in the corruption index is particularly severe in 2020, when the plague is raging among us,” said retired judge Nili Arad, chairwoman of the Israel International Transparency Association – Shvil, which represents Israel in Transparency International.“The lack of transparency in government activities is a threat that leads to distrust and lack of cooperation from the public while dealing with the country’s worst health and economic crisis," she said. "We are witnessing the violation of the foundations of democracy, at a time when leaders are suspected of crimes and creating an atmosphere of ongoing incitement against the justice system and the media.
“Unfortunately, the entry of 2021 does not bode well, in terms of the overall aspect of the corona rampage and a fourth election in the offing,” Arad said. “We hope that government officials will draw the necessary conclusions and lessons for increasing transparency, strengthening and protecting the values of democracy, and dealing with and avoiding the effects of corruption, in a way that will be reflected in the global index of corruption in the coming years.”
Since it started in 1995, the Berlin-based CPI has been one of the world’s leading indicators of corruption trends, with 100 chapters worldwide.
Denmark and New Zealand ranked first for the second year in a row with a score of 88, compared to a score of 87 last year. They are followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland, which scored 85. Norway scored 84 and the Netherlands 82, followed by Germany and Luxembourg, which both received a grade of 80.
The United States scored 67, falling to 25th place in the index, its fourth consecutive year of decline.
At the lowest spots on the index are South Sudan and Somalia with scores of 12, followed by Syria at 14 and Yemen and Venezuela with 15.