After His Candidacy Was Blocked, Elron Cancels Appearance at Knesset-Organized Ceremony

First published: After the coalition blocked the candidacy of retired Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron for the post of state comptroller, Elron canceled his participation today, Thursday, in a conference marking 75 years since the immigration of Iraqi Jews, organized by coalition Knesset members Eli Dallal, Ofir Katz, Nissim Vaturi and Limor Son Har-Melech.

At the same time, the incoming state comptroller, attorney Michael Ravillo, held his first handover meeting today with outgoing State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman in his office in Jerusalem. The next comptroller is expected to be sworn in at the Knesset plenum podium on July 1, and when he takes office in a month he will become the 10th person to hold the post since the founding of the state, and the ninth public complaints commissioner of the State of Israel. In addition, he will replace Comptroller Englman as president of the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI) and will continue in that role until May 2027.

As recalled, a commotion broke out last night in the Knesset during the voting round for state comptroller, בעקבות opposition claims that the Likud faction manager Aliza Brashi demanded that coalition members photograph their vote for Netanyahu's candidate behind the curtain. In the main edition, the remarks attributed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were published last night for the first time, saying, "Whoever foils Ravillo will pay in the primaries" and "Are there traitors in the coalition." Immediately after the voting results were published, the Movement for Quality Government and the Yesh Atid faction announced that they would petition the High Court of Justice against the appointment.

"The appointment of the prime minister's personal lawyer to the role responsible for overseeing the prime minister himself is a severe conflict of interest, and it was carried out in a process that was tainted before our eyes, after Knesset members were reportedly required to document their vote in an illegal manner as a loyalty test, contrary to the position of the Knesset's legal adviser," the Movement for Quality Government said in response. "It is important to emphasize, what we have just seen is the opening signal of the election campaign: this is what the attempt to subordinate the gatekeepers to personal loyalty looks like, and this is the direction heading into the general election. This must not be met with silence."

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also addressed Ravillo's selection in a special statement: "What we saw today in the Knesset broke all previous records of criminality and chaos in Israel. The chaos coalition of Smotrich, Deri and Netanyahu proved that they have no red line. For the post of state comptroller, who is supposed to oversee Netanyahu, they appointed his personal lawyer. Netanyahu's consigliere. The vote, which by law is supposed to be secret, became public and coerced. This is a process that is corrupt to its core, blatantly illegal, and a black flag flies over it, so it will be disqualified. My friend, Opposition Leader Lapid, filed the petition to the High Court. The appointment will be disqualified, but it will not be forgotten. The citizens of Israel will remember this forever. A straight line connects the choice of Ravillo as comptroller and the attempt to evade responsibility for October 7. "