Israel’s High Court Freezes Michael Ravilo’s Appointment as State Comptroller

Israel’s Supreme Court today (Wednesday) issued an interim order freezing attorney Michael Ravilo’s entry into the role of State Comptroller until a ruling is handed down on the petitions filed against his appointment.

In the decision, which was made by a five-justice panel headed by Court President Yitzhak Amit, it was written that the interim order was given "in view of the timetable required in light of the end of the term of the current State Comptroller, and in order to allow sufficient time for a judgment to be given in the proceeding. The judgment in the proceeding will be given as soon as possible."

Ravilo, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attorney, as recalled won the second round in the election held in the Knesset plenum for the position of State Comptroller. He received 61 votes, compared with retired Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron, who received 57 votes. The opposition argued that Likud Knesset members who photographed themselves behind the voting booth curtain with the ballot bearing Ravilo’s name had been instructed to do so, and that this therefore tainted a process that is supposed to be secret. Likud responded that the recordings were made at the initiative of the Knesset members who did so, without being forced.

Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid welcomed the High Court’s decision: "As we wrote in the petition we filed on the matter, these elections were contaminated, and Netanyahu’s private attorney will not be able to be appointed to the position."

By contrast, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attacked the High Court justices and the attorney general: "First the head of the Shin Bet, then the head of the Mossad, and now the State Comptroller and the director of the Israel Land Authority. Gali Baharav-Miara and her colleagues on the High Court are crossing red lines again and again, by those who are unlawfully taking Israeli democracy hostage and thwarting every decision and every appointment of the national camp. They scorn, trample, and spit in the faces of the majority of Israel’s citizens. We will not allow Israel to become a judicial dictatorship. We will give the answer at the ballot box. In a big way."

MK Hanoch Milwidsky (Likud), one of the Knesset members who photographed himself with the ballot for Ravilo, responded: "The High Court’s unlawful decision should be ignored. As I’ve been saying for some time, it is a mistake to continue participating in the theater of the absurd of Yitzhak Amit and his fellow rebels. If we want governability. The time has come to act."