{"id":843690,"date":"2026-06-04T11:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/843690\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T11:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:22:17","slug":"netanyahu-has-turned-the-state-comptroller-into-a-branch-of-his-loyalist-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/843690\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu has turned the state comptroller into a branch of his loyalist court"},"content":{"rendered":"

A system of government based on loyalty to the ruler, personal ties and family connections has a name: patrimonialism, coined more than 100 years ago by the political scientist, historian, sociologist, and philosopher Max Weber. There is a direct line between governmental corruption and patrimonialism.<\/p>\n

Contrary to the norm in democracies, under patrimonialism a leader draws power not from public support or a sense of mission, but from a network of loyalists who are cultivated and rewarded. The goal is not the greater good but rather the establishment of a \u201cking\u2019s court.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, patrimonialism, once common in authoritarian regimes, has leaped into the heart of democracy. Political scientists have noted that the phenomenon exists in fragile or underdeveloped democracies. And that is Israel today.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, when the Knesset elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s personal lawyer as state comptroller, we saw how a long line of both senior and junior elected officials do not understand \u2014 or choose not to understand \u2014 the meaning of basic democratic values.<\/p>\n

In the process \u2014 a flagrantly illegal process that saw accusations of coalition lawmakers coming under pressure to vote for the premier\u2019s preferred candidate \u2014 the coalition enabled Netanyahu to destroy an important democratic institution charged with overseeing the work of government, independent of government, responsible to parliament.<\/p>\n

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Given his longstanding closeness to the Likud party, the Netanyahu family, and Netanyahu himself, attorney Michael Rabello will face a long and tangled web of conflicts of interest \u2014 to the point that every act of oversight he purports to carry out could be met with a petition alleging a conflict of interest. This will be \u201coversight\u201d without any real capability.<\/p>\n

Rabello, if his appointment is not struck down by the Supreme Court \u2014 which Netanyahu is also bent on destroying \u2014 will even have to recuse himself from the basic role of auditing the financial accounts of political parties during elections, since, as his firm\u2019s website describes<\/a>, he has for years represented the prime minister\u2019s Likud party.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMichael Rabello, elected by MKs as state comptroller on June 3, 2026, at the Knesset on June 1, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

The website for Rabello\u2019s law firm notes that the firm provided Likud with \u201clegal counsel in constitutional and administrative proceedings before the Supreme Court, including in precedential cases dealing with the formation of the government, conflicts of interest, and the constitutional right to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, the prime minister\u2019s expert on conflicts of interest will himself be entirely steeped in conflicts of interest, to the point that he will be unable to work. The information on the website, it should be noted, does not present Rabello\u2019s full list of clients. It is only partial information.<\/p>\n

Related: Netanyahu forces through election of his lawyer as state comptroller amid tainted vote<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Setting aside Rabello\u2019s long list of conflicts of interest, the process of his election exposed the court of loyalists in the Knesset, as its members acceded to the demand that they document themselves voting for the prime minister\u2019s candidate, in violation of the law.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMembers of the Knesset during the State Comptroller elections, the Knesset plenum, Jerusalem, June 3, 2026. (Oren Ben Hakoon\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

The Basic Law that regulates the selection of the state comptroller states: \u201cIn carrying out his duties, the state comptroller shall be responsible only to the Knesset and shall not be dependent on the government,\u201d and also: \u201cThe state comptroller shall be elected by the Knesset in a secret ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incidentally, removing the state comptroller requires a majority of 90 MKs, so there is almost no way to remove one, since a majority of that size is practically impossible to achieve.<\/p>\n

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana ruled that MKs may not be explicitly instructed to film themselves but have the right to do so if they want. In other words, the right to secrecy in the procedure belongs to the MKs themselves, and not to the public.<\/p>\n

Therefore, rejecting the recommendation of Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik, Ohana determined that MKs were permitted to enter the voting booth with a cellphone \u2014 and they choose to document their vote, that is their business.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu votes for the next state comptroller at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, June 3, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Ohana\u2019s decision instantly wiped out the essence of the secret ballot, and the loyalist regime\u2019s corrupted revote got underway.<\/p>\n

Miraculously, Rabello, who had received 57 votes in the first round, rose to 61 votes in the second round and was appointed state comptroller, winning out over conservative former Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron.<\/p>\n

During Netanyahu\u2019s many years in power, he has lost many times in secret Knesset ballots. Wednesday\u2019s was, ostensibly, a rare case of a vote behind the curtain in which he succeeded. How did that happen? Simply because the vote was not secret.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tSupreme Court judge Yosef Elron at a ceremony marking his retirement in the Supreme Court, September 18, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

Among several opinion leaders on the right, it was evident that Netanyahu had crossed a red line even for them. Ran Baratz, Netanyahu\u2019s former public diplomacy chief, wrote: \u201cOf all the strange appointments, Rabello as state comptroller is such a delusional appointment, so unrelated to the position, so tainted by closeness at the expense of suitability, that there are those who tell me, even in the coalition, that it seemed to them like a trick to appoint Elron.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronen Shoval, one of Netanyahu\u2019s fiercest defenders regarding his criminal trial and other personal issues, wrote: \u201cThe problem is not that attorney Rabello is not professional and suitable. The problem is that he is Netanyahu\u2019s private attorney and therefore it is inappropriate. What makes it beyond inappropriate \u2014 and reaches the level of disqualification \u2014 is that the voting process was fundamentally contaminated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barak Herscowitz, a former Likud member and central activist, wrote: \u201cAnyone who makes sure to appoint his own lawyer as the comptroller who is supposed to oversee him is not interested in oversight, and therefore is not interested in fixing any of the things that are broken in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

These commentators are no longer part of Netanyahu\u2019s patrimonialism. They were there and were cast out, and the road back is not open to them, because in a system of loyalties, there is no room for anyone whose loyalty is in doubt. The content of their social media posts, and their very readiness to post them, suggest they sense Netanyahu\u2019s rule may be nearing its end.<\/p>\n


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