A Hebrew commentary argues that the dispute over appointing state comptroller candidate Michael Ravilo is not the real story. The immediate question is whether Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana will refuse to follow a High Court order, including a possible rerun of the vote if the court demands it, but the article says the broader aim is to turn confrontation with the judiciary into Likud’s election platform.
The piece says Benjamin Netanyahu has spent the period since October 7 promising “total victory” in Gaza, Lebanon, and against Iran, yet the results have fallen far short. According to the article, Hamas still dominates Gaza, Hezbollah has not been deterred in Lebanon, northern residents do not feel secure, and after two military rounds Iran remains strong, with its uranium and ballistic missiles intact and the ayatollah regime stable.
It argues Netanyahu’s political problem is not only criticism from the left. The disappointment also comes from his own right-wing base, which wanted decisive outcomes rather than explanations or repeated rounds of fighting. The article adds that anger over ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions is another sensitive issue the Likud wants to keep off the agenda, especially as reservists are exhausted and their families are paying a heavy price.
The commentary says the legal arena offers Netanyahu a more useful battlefield, because it replaces questions about Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and the draft with a simple story of Knesset versus the High Court, the public versus elites, and elected officials versus judges. It notes that the Ravilo case already includes a disputed selection process, claims of compromised secrecy in the vote, petitions to the High Court, and the possibility of defiance by the Knesset speaker. But it says the pattern goes beyond this case, through the judicial appointments committee, splitting the attorney general’s role, weakening gatekeepers, and reviving parts of the judicial overhaul. The conclusion is that Netanyahu is not stumbling into a constitutional crisis, but deliberately creating one because it serves his campaign.
