Elections committee chief rebukes ‘baseless’ Likud challenge to choice of panel’s lawyer

Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg on Tuesday sharply rejected a second recent attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the selection of the Central Elections Committee’s new legal adviser.

Yifat Siminovski, an executive at Intel who previously served at the National Cyber Directorate and the Education Ministry, was unanimously chosen for the position on Monday, at a time of rising concern that generative AI could have a significant impact on this year’s Knesset election, which is scheduled to take place in October but could be held earlier.

Attorney Ilan Bombach, representing both Netanyahu and the latter’s Likud party, on Monday wrote a second letter in as many days to Sohlberg, who also serves as the chairman of the Central Elections Committee.

In the letter, Bombach questioned whether Siminovski’s background in cyber and technology qualified her for the role of legal adviser.

Sohlberg did not mince words in rebuking Bombach’s letter.

“I do not believe [your letter] is grounded in law or in fact,” the justice wrote in his reply. “Did you even read Siminovski’s CV and the documents she submitted to the committee?”

“In the future,” Sohlberg continued, “it would be appropriate to study the issue in full, based on a thorough and accurate evidentiary basis, before making baseless claims pertaining to an individual.”

Sohlberg, who has been a Supreme Court justice since 2012, is considered one of the court’s most conservative judges, though this has not endeared him to Netanyahu and the Likud party. Last year, the prime minister rejected outright a proposal to set up a state commission of inquiry for Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023, in which Sohlberg would advise on the selection of the committee members.

The Central Elections Committee is an independent state body responsible for managing parliamentary elections and protecting their integrity. It is chaired by a Supreme Court justice and comprises representatives of the various factions in the Knesset.

The committee is in charge of tallying votes and has the power to disqualify parties ahead of elections.

Opposition figures swiftly seized on the opportunity to attack Netanyahu and his coalition on Tuesday.

“Netanyahu is ramping up his attempts to steal the elections,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid wrote on X. “While the war with Iran is ongoing, while you are in your shelters, Netanyahu is trying to intervene in the selection of the legal adviser to the Central Elections Committee.”

Yair Golan, leader of The Democrats party, also chimed in, writing on Facebook: “Netanyahu and Likud have lost the trust of the public and are afraid of the ballot box. They will lose and try to steal the elections.”

Bombach had previously objected to Siminovski’s selection on procedural grounds in a letter on Sunday, before the formal appointment, a claim that was also swiftly and decisively rejected by Sohlberg that same day.

In selecting Siminovski, the committee emphasized that “her expertise in the fields of cyber, artificial intelligence and technologies will contribute greatly to the work of the committee.”

In January, the committee announced that it was setting up a dedicated team in conjunction with the Shin Bet security service to examine concerns about AI influence on the upcoming national election.

Since the last election, in 2022, generative AI tools have exploded in popularity and sophistication, flooding social media with fake images and videos.

Netanyahu himself has shared such media, including in October, when he posted an AI-generated image on his official prime ministerial X account depicting US President Donald Trump receiving a Nobel Peace Prize.

Last month, the committee ordered Likud to take down a manipulated image that appeared to show Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid joining hands with Arab party leaders in celebration of an announcement that they would undertake efforts to run together in the next elections.

Neither Bennett nor Lapid was involved with the agreement nor present at the event, and neither will run together with the Arab parties.

In recent years, Netanyahu and his party have made efforts to gain greater control over both government legal advisers and the electoral system. In March 2023, Likud MK Eliyahu Revivo filed, and quickly withdrew, a bill to allow the Knesset speaker to appoint the committee chairman.

The coalition also advanced a bill making it easier to disqualify Arab lawmakers and a measure preventing the Supreme Court from overturning Central Elections Committee rulings disqualifying parties.

It has also advanced legislation aimed at stripping the attorney general of authority over ministry legal advisers.