Ahead of the 2009 elections, the Labor Party, one of Israel's largest, explored focusing its campaign on the war against governmental corruption. Theoretically, it was a logical choice, as the elections had been moved up in response to the corruption affair surrounding Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Also, Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson was being tried on charges of stealing millions of shekels, and an atmosphere of disgust pervaded the country. The head of that same party also recalled the 1992 success of the Labor Party's campaign under late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, using the catchy slogan roughly translated as, "Corrupt people, we're fed up with you!” All this contributed to the toppling of the Likud government.
But when the anti-corruption campaign's effectiveness was tested in opinion polls, public interest in it was found to be minor. At the top of the Israeli priority list is economic issues, followed by security; corruption appears closer to the bottom, together with the environment. As a result, the corruption issue was shelved.
