Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, heard petitions on Thursday challenging the appointment of attorney Michael Ravilo as state comptroller. Justice Gila Kanfi-Steinitz said the case raised “a weighty question,” asking whether secrecy rules were violated by allowing filming, by the filming itself, or because the recording was video. Early in the hearing, Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg clashed with MK Tally Gotliv after she interrupted the judges and was removed from the courtroom; she shouted, “Thank you very much for the disrespect to immunity.”
Attorney Mor, representing petitioner Yaya Fink, argued the objection goes to the heart of the post and the man, saying Ravilo had served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private lawyer. He said the team gathered 55 cases in which Ravilo represented Netanyahu, including civil proceedings and High Court petitions, as well as the Likud, the Prime Minister’s Office, and ministers Miki Zohar, Karin Elharrar? no, and later ministers Yitzhak? no, Shmuel? no, and Miri Regev? no, and said a conflict-of-interest arrangement would not solve the problem. Kanfi-Steinitz responded that the prevailing view is that conflicts can be handled by such arrangements and that no one has ever been disqualified solely for a broad conflict of interest.
Attorney Dafna Holtz-Lachner, for petitioner MK Naama Lazimi, said the Knesset legal adviser should have briefed lawmakers on Ravilo’s conflicts. Sohlberg replied that, apparently, everything was already known to the MKs, while Justice Ruth Ronen raised the broader question of whether every candidate should disclose potential conflicts. Knesset legal adviser Shagit Afik asked the court to reject the petitions, saying that if MKs were instructed to record their vote, the instruction would have been unlawful, but no evidence had been presented that such an order was actually given.
Ravilo filed his preliminary response on Tuesday, denying political dependence despite having represented Netanyahu, and saying the election was conducted lawfully. He conceded there are conflicts in “certain matters,” but argued they can be resolved “by the usual means, including a conflict-of-interest arrangement,” not by blanket disqualification. His lawyers also argued that Israeli law does not expressly forbid documenting a secret ballot, and that secrecy does not create a legal duty to hide how an MK voted.
The response added that Ravilo was elected lawfully, that the state comptroller is fully independent from the government, and that his prior role as Netanyahu’s lawyer does not bar him from the job. Former Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron joined the petition earlier this week after losing the Knesset vote to Ravilo. Separately, Channel 13 reported an audio recording of a Netanyahu associate saying MKs had been told to document their vote, and later reported alleged Netanyahu remarks that those who blocked Ravilo would “pay in the primaries” and asked whether there were “traitors in the coalition.”
