In a victory for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Knesset plenum elected Adv. Michael Rabillo to the position of state comptroller by a vote of 61-57 on Wednesday afternoon.

Rabillo is considered a close confidant of Netanyahu and previously served as his lawyer, representing him in several High Court proceedings.

The voting process was a stormy one. Rabillo’s rival, retired High Court Justice Yosef Elron, won the first round but only received 60 votes instead of the 61 he needed.

A second round was called, but during the process, it was reported that coalition MKs were taking selfies of themselves voting for Rabillo, despite the elections being carried out by secret ballot. A loud shouting match erupted, with opposition members claiming that Likud MKs were ordered to film themselves. The Likud strongly denied the accusations.

As a result, the Knesset’s legal adviser ordered the voting process halted.

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana then restarted a second round from the beginning.

Meanwhile, the decision was barely made public, and the Yesh Atid party already announced that it intends to petition the High Court against the appointment.

In addition, the left-wing Movement for Quality Government, which constantly submits petitions to the High Court, including against the appointment of Roman Gofman as the Mossad chief, announced it will petition the High Court against the appointment.

The organization stated: “Appointing the Prime Minister’s personal attorney to a position tasked with overseeing the Prime Minister himself is a severe conflict of interest, and the appointment process was compromised after MKs were reportedly instructed to illegally document their votes as a loyalty test, contrary to the position of the Knesset’s legal adviser.”

It should be noted that Justice Elron, who was supported by most of the opposition, is considered a conservative judge who challenged Israel’s judicial establishment, including Supreme Court Justice Yitzchak Amit.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)