Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana is expected to tell the High Court on Sunday that parliament opposes holding a new vote on the appointment of State Comptroller candidate Michael Rabello, even though the Knesset legal adviser had been willing to consider that option. The court is then expected to issue an order nisi, with a final ruling only after another hearing and additional arguments from both sides.
The dispute follows petitions challenging Rabello’s appointment, after judges last week said they intended to issue an order regarding secrecy in the Knesset voting process. Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg criticized the conduct of the vote and said there was an undesirable cloud hanging over it, suggesting a repeat ballot. The court ordered the Knesset to submit its response by Sunday.
During the hearing, attorney Mor, speaking for petitioner Yaya Fink, argued there was no personal grievance against Rabello but said the problem went to the heart of the office, because Rabello had been Benjamin Netanyahu’s private lawyer. Mor said his side collected 55 cases in which Rabello represented Netanyahu, including civil matters and High Court petitions, and also represented Likud, the Prime Minister’s Office, Minister Miki Zohar, Minister May Golan, and Minister Shlomo Karhi. He said a conflict-of-interest arrangement would not solve the problem. Justice Ofer Knappsteinitz said conflicts are usually handled through such arrangements and noted that no one has ever been disqualified from office solely for broad conflicts of interest.
Attorney Dafna Holtz Lener, for MK Naama Lazimi, said the Knesset legal adviser should have warned lawmakers about Rabello’s conflict. Justice Sohlberg said the matter was apparently known to the MKs, while Justice Ruth Ronen raised questions about whether candidates should disclose potential conflicts and whether the filming of votes in the second round, and not the first, indicated an instruction. Knesset representative Yitzhak Bart said there was no proof and only rumors; Justice Knappsteinitz countered that at least two MKs were shown revealing their votes, making the issue more basic than mere documentation.
Rabello filed his preliminary response on Wednesday, denying political dependence on Netanyahu and saying the election was lawful. He acknowledged a conflict in some matters but said it should be handled through standard tools such as a conflict-of-interest agreement, not blanket disqualification. The Knesset legal adviser, Shaked Apik, also urged rejection of the petitions, saying that if MKs were instructed to record their vote, the instruction would have been illegal, but no evidence of such an instruction had been shown. Former Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron, who lost the Knesset vote to Rabello, joined the petition, and a leaked recording cited by Channel 13 includes a Netanyahu-aligned source saying,
