Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Minister for Strategic Threats Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Amir Peretz are considered by the Israeli public to be the most corrupt ministers in the government. The ministers considered least corrupt are Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz.

The ranking is based on a poll conducted as part of the preparation for the Sderot Conference for Society and was released Tuesday night at the opening event of the conference at Sapir College.

According to the survey conducted by Maagar Mochot Interdisciplinary Consulting Research Institute, 42 percent of the 1,111 respondents said Olmert's public behavior was corrupt to very corrupt, compared to 26 percent and 24 percent for Lieberman and Peretz, respectively.

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They were followed by Ministry of Trade and Industry Eli Yishai (Shas), who was perceived as being corrupt to very corrupt by 24 percent of respondents, and by Interior Minister Roni Bar-on (22 percent). Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson and National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer shared sixth place.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, 38 percent believe that Livni's public behavior is honest to very honest, compared to 35 percent for Peres, 28 percent for Mofaz and 22 percent for Acting Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit.

In 2005, Olmert was in fourth place. Lieberman was unchanged in second. Livni and Peres were in second and third place, respectively, on the honesty scale last year.