Hershkowitz withdraws from race to become state comptroller

Civil Service Commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz is pulling out of the race to become the next state comptroller, Hebrew-language media reports.

“Prof. Hershkowitz would like to sincerely thank the ministers and Knesset members from all sides who expressed confidence in him and supported his candidacy along the way, and appreciates the broad and warm support he received,” he says in a statement, according to the Ynet news site.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party announced that it had begun collecting signatures for the candidacy of former High Court Justice Yosef Elron.

Elron, who was appointed to the nation’s top court in 2017 and retired in 2024, is seen as a staunch conservative.

Michael Rabello, an attorney who has represented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the High Court of Justice on several occasions, is also a candidate for the position.

Netanyahu himself is pushing Rabello’s candidacy, Kan reported last week, and has held several meetings with coalition party heads in an effort to persuade them to support him.

Rabello has represented Netanyahu in High Court petitions when the attorney general has opposed the government’s position, including the petitions demanding a state commission of inquiry be established into the catastrophic October 7, 2023, invasion and atrocities, and the petitions against the government’s reasonableness law.

The State Comptroller has the authority to audit and review the functioning of government ministries and agencies and examine whether they are acting legally, efficiently, and properly.

The position is elected by secret ballot of all Knesset members and must secure a majority to be elected.