High Court freezes appointment of Michael Rabello as state comptroller over vote concerns

The High Court of Justice on Wednesday temporarily blocked Michael Rabello’s appointment as state comptroller, until the justices can issue a final decision on petitions against the controversial vote in the Knesset last month in which he was selected.

Outgoing State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman is scheduled to leave office on July 3, and Rabello was expected to take up his position on July 4. But the court said it needed more time to write its ruling on the petitions, and therefore froze Rabello’s entry into the position until it issues that decision, adding that it will do so as quickly as possible.

Immediately following the court’s decision, several coalition lawmakers called to ignore the order, with Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, from the far-right wing of the Likud party, declaring that the Knesset should instruct Rabello to go to the State Comptroller’s Office and take up his position regardless.

Such a step would create a constitutional crisis, wherein a state institution, in this case the State Comptroller’s Office, would not know whether to follow the instructions of the court or the Knesset. It would appear unlikely, however, that Rabello himself would consider such a step, especially before a final ruling by the court.

Opposition MKs welcomed the ruling, with Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar saying the High Court had been right to recognize that the “coalition’s vote was invalid and corrupt,” and said that coalition declarations calling to disobey the court amounted to “the swan song of a failed and harmful government that will soon go.”

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The High Court is currently considering petitions asking that it annul the controversial Knesset vote in which Rabello — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s longtime lawyer and negotiator — was elected as state controller at the beginning of June.

During the vote, which is supposed to be conducted as a secret ballot, several Likud MKs either made their voting slip with Rabello’s name on it visible outside the voting booth, or photographed or videoed themselves voting for him inside the booth, reportedly on the instructions of senior Likud officials.

In a hearing last week by the court, the justices appeared highly critical of the way the vote was conducted, indicating that the legal requirement of holding a secret ballot was violated, and appeared poised to intervene in the matter, likely by declaring the vote void and ordering the Knesset to hold it again.

“It’s time to tell the High Court of Justice no!” declared Karhi on X.

“The Knesset must stand firm against those intoxicated by power, who think that the Supreme Court is above the law, above the Knesset, and above the people,” he continued, adding, “The Knesset must instruct attorney Rabello to go to the State Comptroller’s Office and enter his position immediately.”

Likud MK and Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Hanoch Milwidsky said similarly that the coalition “should ignore this illegal order by the High Court.”

Elharrar said that the ruling was a welcome development.

“We will continue to fight until the vote is completely annulled and a legal, secret, and clean election process is held,” the Yesh Atid MK said.
“As for those who called for not complying with the High Court’s decision, this is nothing more than the swan song of a failed and harmful government that will soon be gone.”

In the Knesset election for state comptroller on June 3, Rabello lost the first round of voting to retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron, 60-57. A second round of voting then began, since a candidate needs 61 votes to be elected, but was aborted after opposition MKs alleged that coalition MKs had been ordered to record their vote.

When the second vote started over, at least seven coalition MKs recorded themselves voting for Rabello, Netanyahu’s favored candidate, who then won 61-57, with some coalition MKs having apparently switched their votes from the first round.

Petitioners alleged that the process was contaminated, violating the requirement in Basic Law: State Comptroller that members of Knesset vote by secret ballot, and argued that this component of the law was designed to bolster the office’s political independence.

After a first hearing in court on June 18, the High Court strongly recommended that the Knesset redo the election “cleanly and properly” because of the irregularities, but Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana refused.

This led the court to conduct a second hearing with an expanded five-justice panel on June 28, leading to Wednesday’s interim decision.