{"id":842031,"date":"2026-06-03T18:32:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/842031\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T18:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:32:32","slug":"opposition-decries-election-of-michael-rabello-as-state-comptroller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/842031\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition decries election of Michael Rabello as state comptroller"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett<\/a> said on Wednesday that “soon the Israeli government will not be run like a mafia,” in a statement reacting to the selection of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s personal attorney<\/a>, Michael Rabello, for the role of state comptroller.<\/a><\/p>\n

The opposition warned, after the highly controversial vote took place in the Knesset plenum, that the election was illegal, while many petitions were also filed with the High Court of Justice challenging the vote’s legality.<\/p>\n

During the vote, coaltion MKs were reportedly forced to film themselves casting their ballot, following instructions from Netanyahu<\/a>\u2019s ruling Likud party, as it placed pressure on the lawmakers to vote for Michael\u00a0Rabello.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By law, the process for electing the state comptroller is required to be done through a secret ballot vote to keep the integrity of the vote intact and remove political pressure from the appointment.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Yair Lapid<\/a> filed a petition to the High Court on behalf of his Yesh Atid party, within the Together party, led by Bennett.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the State Comptroller elections at the plenum of the Knesset, in Jerusalem, June 3, 2026. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

Yesh Atid stated that the petition was filed “in light of the violation of ballot secrecy and after intervention by the Knesset Speaker from the Likud faction against the position of the Knesset\u2019s legal adviser.”<\/p>\n

Movement for Quality Government decries ‘severe conflict of interest’<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Movement for Quality Government also filed a petition against the appointment of Rabello.<\/p>\n

The group stated that the appointment constituted a severe conflict of interest, and that it was carried out through a process that was “tainted before our eyes, after Knesset members were reportedly required to document their vote in an unlawful manner as a test of loyalty, contrary to the position of the Knesset\u2019s legal adviser.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett had already slammed the process for electing the state comptroller earlier on Wednesday, calling it \u201cfundamentally tainted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were not free votes, but rather extortion and intimidation of Likud MKs who are under the threat of a price tag from the boss,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who claims that secrecy is a right rather than an obligation in this case is mistaken, because the individual freedom of choice of those MKs has been taken away from them due to that threat.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThis vote should be invalidated from the outset,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot responded that \u201cOnly someone who knows the truth and fears it will do everything to conceal their responsibility for October 7, including appointing their personal attorney as state comptroller and preventing a state commission of inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n

He criticized Rabello, saying that he was elected through a \u201cdictatorial method that challenged Israeli democracy and was led by a prime minister who does not enjoy public trust and sees himself as above the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have even a shred of morality and values, you should immediately announce that you are unwilling to accept the position,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

MKs question how Netanyahu secured votes for new comptroller<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yisrael Beytenu chairperson MK Avigdor Liberman questioned what deals Netanyahu had struck with the lawmakers in order to secure their votes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder what the October 7 prime minister promised the draft dodgers in exchange for supporting his private attorney for the position of state comptroller,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu was pictured meeting with the haredi Degel Hatorah faction leader, MK Moshe Gafni, throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Democrats party leader Yair Golan said that the citizens of Israel had seen the coalition \u201cin all its ugliness and a democratic election process that was tainted from its very foundations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat took place today in the Knesset plenum is the clear conduct of a criminal organization, extortion, threats, and intimidation. They are trampling the law and the rules of the game because they know that otherwise they will lose,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

“To prevent them from doing in the general elections what we saw today in the Knesset, the democratic and law-abiding camp must go out and vote in large numbers,” Golan continued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former prime minister Naftali Bennett said on Wednesday that “soon the Israeli government will not be run like…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":842032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[372,73831,99,26902,46360,50,317066,27270],"class_list":["post-842031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-high-court-of-justice","tag-israel","tag-israeli-politics","tag-likud","tag-news","tag-state-comptroller","tag-yair-lapid"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116687611444690021","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}