Levin urges Knesset to ignore High Court order for new state comptroller vote

Justice Minister Yariv Levin said Wednesday morning that the Knesset should not abide by a High Court of Justice ruling that invalidated the results of the state comptroller election last month and ordered the Knesset to redo the vote.

The justice minister said that the Knesset should not hold a new election for the position, and that Michael Rabello — a longtime lawyer and adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was elected state comptroller in the now-overturned ballot — should simply take up the position regardless of the ruling.

Levin claimed that the coalition backed his stance, though the Netanyahu-appointed and coalition-backed chief of police reportedly said Wednesday that his force would obey the High Court “without batting an eyelash,” a day after his spokesman refused to say so.

Levin’s comments mark the second time this week that he and the Netanyahu coalition have attacked the legitimacy of the High Court head-on, in what is becoming an increasingly intense constitutional clash between the two branches of government.

“There is no possibility of holding repeat elections, and no one disputes this within the coalition,” Levin told the ultra-Orthodox Kol Barama radio station.

“The running of the Knesset is in the hands of the Knesset speaker and the Knesset House Committee, and is not in the hands of the court. The High Court judges cannot simply become the Knesset speaker and deliberate on… whether an election was legal,” continued the justice minister.

Rabello was elected by the Knesset as state comptroller in a highly controversial election on June 3, where at least six coalition MKs violated the legal requirement that the vote be held by secret ballot.

This led the High Court to rule the election invalid earlier this month, and order the Knesset to redo the vote.

Levin in his interview said that Rabello “should simply enter the [state comptroller] offices and begin to carry out his job,” and accused the High Court of creating a constitutional crisis by “unlawfully taking authorities upon itself and taking control of a body [the Knesset] that is supposed to review itself.”

Sources close to Rabello confirmed to The Times of Israel that he told the heads of the coalition immediately after the High Court ruling that it should hold a new election, and that he would not take up the role otherwise. The sources said that nothing has changed in Rabello’s stance since then.

Levin’s suggested course of action would cause a true constitutional crisis, since the State Comptroller’s Office would not know which branch of government to obey — the High Court or the Knesset.

Rebuking Levin’s call, Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik reportedly told Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana that the government must comply with the High Court of Justice and hold repeat elections for the position of state comptroller within the next two weeks, or “as soon as possible,” Ynet reported Wednesday.

Afik informed Ohana that the vote can take place even after the Knesset is dissolved later this month in preparation for the national election, due to the urgency of the matter.

Eisenkot: Levin is enemy of Israeli democracy

Opposition leaders denounced Levin over his latest attack on the High Court, and accused him of undermining Israeli democracy.

“Yariv Levin, the man who led the regime overhaul even at the cost of dismantling Israeli society while Netanyahu hides behind him, one of the leading contributors to the State of Israel’s lowest point, is the enemy of Israeli democracy,” declared Yashar party chair Gadi Eisenkot in a post on X.

“Netanyahu and his government continue to dismantle the foundations of democracy on the eve of the most fateful election in Israeli history,” continued the ex-IDF chief, who is currently the main challenger to Netanyahu in the upcoming election.

“Netanyahu, the people of Israel will stand before you as an impregnable wall. We will not allow you to dismantle Israel.”

Levin’s call to disobey the High Court comes days after the government issued a resolution declaring it did not accept as valid a ruling issued by the top court on the operations of Israel’s commercial broadcasting regulatory body.

This prompted the High Court to warn of societal breakdown if the government did not obey its rulings and said there would likely be negative legal consequences for public officials disobeying court orders.

The High Court has previously rebuked Ben Gvir for denying adequate rations to Palestinian prisoners and for unlawfully interfering with operational police decisions, while Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has expressed support for petitions demanding the High Court order his ouster over such abuses of power.

Police chief vows to obey court

Seemingly picking a side in the fight between the coalition and the courts, Israel Police chief Daniel Levy said Wednesday that his force would obey the High Court “without batting an eyelash,” according to Hebrew media reports.

Levy’s reported comments came a day after police spokesperson Aryeh Doron refused to say the force would heed a hypothetical High Court order that clashed with the directives of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

“We obey the law and will comply with every High Court ruling without batting an eyelash, regardless of anyone’s political opinion,” Levy was quoted as saying at a Traffic Police ceremony. “We’re an apolitical organization, and we leave our opinions at home.”

In a video clip from the speech, Levy also vowed to act “impartially against any attempt to harm the integrity of the elections or break the law or disrupt public order.”

On Tuesday, Doron was asked repeatedly in an interview with Kan public radio who the police force would heed in such a case, and answered: “Whomever the law of the State of Israel requires it to obey.”