Yesh Atid lawmaker Yaron Levi has become a flashpoint inside the opposition after refusing to say whether he was the MK who blocked retired Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron from becoming state comptroller. In the secret Knesset vote, Elron won 60 votes to Michael Ravilo’s 57, and one more vote for Elron would have given him the job. Ravilo, a private attorney for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was ultimately elected.
Levi, a Knesset member for the past three years, said in his first interview since the uproar, “Even my son does not know whom I voted for.” He argued that secrecy in the ballot overrides party discipline, saying it is possible he was the decisive vote, but just as possible another MK was. He insisted that he acted “according to my conscience and for the good of the State of Israel.”
Before the vote, Levi had hinted online that he faced a dilemma, which fueled speculation that he was not aligned with his opposition colleagues. He later said reporters had asked him days earlier whether he was “closed with the coalition,” and he chose not to answer, expecting backlash. Levi also said he had a small recording from the event on his phone, but refused to show it, arguing that doing so would “dirty” the secret election process.
Levi accused both the media and his camp of hypocrisy, saying those who call the other side a “machine of poison” became one themselves by demanding he reveal a confidential vote. He also said he will leave Yesh Atid at the end of the current Knesset term, telling party leader Yair Lapid that he had stretched himself too far politically. He described himself as a “clear right-wing” politician who nevertheless fit within a centrist party, and said he had signed a petition to remove Ofer Cassif and Ayman Odeh despite pressure to withdraw his signature. He added that he was the first opposition MK to stand and applaud Netanyahu during a Knesset visit by Donald Trump about eight months ago.
