Report: Netanyahu’s advisers considering telling PM to defy High Court ruling on state comptroller election

Advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are considering telling the premier to defy the High Court after it ruled that the Knesset vote to elect Michael Rabello as state comptroller was invalid and ordered it to hold a new vote, Ynet reports.

According to the report, the prime minister’s advisers are currently meeting with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to discuss possibly ignoring the ruling.

Doing so would spark a constitutional crisis, wherein a state institution, in this case the State Comptroller’s Office, would not know whether to follow the instructions of the court or the Knesset.

Before striking down Rabello’s election as invalid, the court had recommended that the Knesset redo the election “cleanly and properly,” but Ohana refused.

Several coalition lawmakers, including Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, had called to ignore the High Court ruling even before it was issued.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid welcomes the High Court ruling, saying the opposition will “continue to uphold the rule of law.”

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says the affair is yet another instance in which “the coalition has failed again in managing state affairs,” while Democrats chair Yair Golan urges all opposition parties to unite around a candidate for state comptroller ahead of the new court-ordered vote.