AG said to order police probe of conflicting claims in state comptroller vote scandal

Likud said to ask High Court to reject affidavit by MK Haskel, who said party MKs were instructed to film themselves voting for PM’s preferred candidate in secret ballot

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Wednesday reportedly instructed police to probe dueling statements from the ruling Likud party and MK Sharren Haskel about the recent contentious Knesset vote for state comptroller.

Haskel, whose New Hope party merged with Likud last year, testified that even though the vote must be conducted by secret ballot, lawmakers were instructed to film themselves voting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preferred candidate, his longtime attorney Michael Rabello. The alleged instruction came after Rabello fell short in the first round of voting.

Some MKs were seen holding their phones as they went to vote for the state comptroller. The High Court froze Rabello’s appointment earlier this month, ordering a new vote to assuage concerns over possible violations of the process.

Haskel’s testimony contradicted previous affidavits filed in court by Likud executive director David Sharan and several Likud MKs, who said there had been no instructions from Likud officials for coalition MKs to record their votes.

According to Hebrew media reports, Baharav-Miara is ordering police to further investigate which statement is true, and to explore the possibility of a criminal probe of whoever is found to be lying.

Earlier on Tuesday, Likud, through Rabello, who serves as its lawyer, submitted a response to the High Court asking it to reject Haskel’s affidavit, because “she doesn’t describe who, according to her, presented the alleged demand,” as quoted by the Ynet news site.

Senior cabinet ministers, including Justice Minister Yariv Levin, said that the Knesset and government should ignore the High Court ruling, but Rabello himself has refused to take up the position in light of the court decision.

Ignoring the ruling would cause a constitutional crisis, since the State Comptroller’s Office would not know which branch of government to obey — the High Court or the Knesset. Coalition members have repeatedly called for court decisions to be disregarded, amid a larger government effort to weaken the judiciary.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel welcomed Baharav-Miara’s reported order in a statement.

“If it becomes clear that the High Court was misled by a false affidavit, this is not just a violation of the legal process, but a serious violation of the rule of law and the public trust,” the organization said.

Rabello lost the first round of the June 3 voting to former Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron 60-57. A second round of voting then began, since a candidate needs 61 votes to be elected, but was aborted after opposition MKs alleged that coalition MKs had been ordered to record their vote.

When the second round of voting started over, five Likud MKs videoed themselves voting for Rabello inside the booth, while one Shas MK openly displayed his vote to cameras outside the voting booth. Rabello won the second round 61-57, with some coalition MKs having apparently switched their votes from the first round.

Haskel’s statement was made as part of her effort to break away from New Hope, which was headed by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

Haskel, a former member of Likud who entered the current Knesset as part of Sa’ar’s New Hope party, opposed its March 2025 merger with Likud and has refused to run on the party’s list. She has argued the parties have deliberately left the process of merging unfinished, to prevent her from splitting off as a one-member faction and taking with her the state funding attached to her Knesset seat.

The state comptroller’s office only has enforcement powers over election campaign finances for parties and political candidates, but is considered an important institution due to its role in impartially reviewing and auditing the functioning of government institutions.