Israeli Attorney General Orders Probe Into Possible False Affidavit on State Comptroller Vote

Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Isman have instructed the police to investigate whether the Likud party or Knesset member Sharren Haskel submitted a false affidavit to the Supreme Court regarding the secret ballot during the State Comptroller election. The investigation follows conflicting claims about whether Knesset members were instructed to film themselves voting, which is legally required to be a secret process.

The Supreme Court had annulled the initial vote between Prime Minister Netanyahu's lawyer Michael Ravivlo and retired Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron, citing a significant procedural flaw. The court ordered a re-vote, which has yet to take place and may not occur before upcoming elections. The annulment was triggered after several Knesset members recorded themselves voting, violating the secrecy law.

Likud claimed in a recent affidavit submitted to the court that the recordings were done voluntarily by individual members without any directive. However, Sharren Haskel's affidavit, published earlier, alleged that Likud's candidate was presented as the only option, and members of the New Hope party were required to record their votes on video and show the footage to Prime Minister Netanyahu as proof.

Due to these contradictory statements, the Attorney General has ordered an open testimony from Haskel to clarify who gave the instructions regarding the recordings. Depending on her testimony, a criminal investigation may be launched to determine if a false affidavit was submitted to the Supreme Court concerning the voting process.