MK Sharren Haskel Submits Affidavit Claiming Right-Wing Faction Had to Record Vote for State Comptroller to Netanyahu

Former Deputy Minister and MK Sharren Haskel submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court on Thursday as part of her petition to split from the Religious Zionist Party. In her affidavit, Haskel stated that during the second round of voting for the State Comptroller, members of the New Hope faction were required to document their votes by video recording themselves and present this footage to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She claimed that the MKs had no option for independent decision-making and had to show the recordings to Netanyahu. Haskel also affirmed that media reports on this matter were accurate.

About ten days ago, following the passage of a law canceling the detention of draft dodgers, Haskel resigned from her role as Deputy Foreign Minister. In a letter to New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar, she accused him of betrayal, saying, "You betrayed me. You betrayed the people of Israel."

Approximately a month ago, the Supreme Court issued a conditional order requiring the Knesset to explain why the appointment of Michael Regev, Netanyahu's former lawyer, as State Comptroller should not be canceled. This followed a response to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana's statement to the court that there would be no repeat vote on the State Comptroller appointment issue.