Over 50% of haredim say trust in gov't harmed during coronavirus - survey
The survey was published in light of the resignation of Housing and Construction Minister Ya'acov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) on Sunday morning.
By TOBIAS SIEGALHaredi men walk through Mea Shearim, Jerusalem(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The Israel Democracy Institute published a recent survey on Sunday that examines the extent to which the coronavirus pandemic has hindered the ultra-Orthodox (haredi) community’s trust in the haredi political parties.The survey was published in light of the resignation of Housing and Construction Minister Ya'acov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) on Sunday morning, over the possibility of a full lockdown being imposed during the holidays, which he said is a result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lack of appreciation for religious observance.The survey shows that less than a third (32%) of ultra-Orthodox Israelis believe that their communities' trust in the political parties that represent them has not been harmed by the coronavirus crisis. Some 38.5% think that their trust in ultra-Orthodox parties has been harmed or harmed to a great extent and 22.5% think it has been slightly harmed.While 38.5% expressed a distrust of haredi politicians, 53% said that their trust in the current government was harmed, and 53.5% said that their trust in the Health Ministry was harmed.It's worth noting that out of those who expressed a distrust in the Health Ministry, the most were members of hassidic streams (as opposed to Lithuanian, Sephardic and others, who participated in the survey.) Some 62% of hassidic participants expressed a distrust in the Health Ministry and 59% of them expressed a distrust in the current government.Many hassidic Jews hold Netanyahu and the Health Ministry responsible for Ukraine closing its borders for visitors as part of their effort to combat the spread of coronavirus, thus preventing many hassidic Jews from traveling to Uman as part of the annual pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov on Rosh Hashanah.Litzman held the office of Health Minister between December 2019 and May 2020, and some blame him for not handling the pandemic appropriately from the get-go, leading Israel to the situation it faces today, with records of new infections being broken daily. Current Health Minister is Yuli Edelstein (Likud.)While the survey shows clear signs of erosion of the haredi public trust in their representatives and government, it also shows that the general trust in the rabbinical leadership and in the IDF and Home Front Command barely changed at all.
