A petition was filed on Tuesday at the High Court of Justice against the appointment of Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman as the next director of the Mossad intelligence agency by a man who was used by Gofman when as a minor for a so-called influence operation.
Gofman, who has been serving as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military secretary, was approved on Sunday after the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee gave the green light for his appointment.
The petition by Ori Elmakayes and Telem–the Movement for Integrity in Government, focused on Gofman’s authorization in 2022, while commanding the IDF’s 210th “Bashan” Regional Division in the Golan Heights, to use Elmakayes, then 17, in an Arabic-language influence campaign.
As a result of Gofman’s actions, Elmakayes was detained and interrogated by the Shin Bet domestic security agency, held in isolation for two months, charged with espionage offenses, and held in detention for 18 months before the charges were dropped.
Telem stated that the petition cites this affair as well as what it said was Gofman’s failure to tell the truth to IDF investigators who probed the incident. Additionally, Telem noted that Gofman “was silent” during the legal proceedings against Elmakayes, and cited “his failure to take responsibility for the affair and the abuse of a minor who had committed no offense, and his untrustworthiness.”
The petitioners stated that the advisory committee refused to hear testimony from Elmakayes, who requested to appear before it, instead relying on interviews of him in the media. Also, the committee refrained from summoning Brigadier General G., the Operations Colonel in the Military Intelligence Directorate during the relevant period, the Walla news site reported.
The petition also underlined the opposition of the chair of the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee, retired Supreme Court president Asher Grunis, to Gofman’s appointment.
In their joint decision, the three junior members of the committee approved Gofman’s appointment and said that the incident should not keep Gofman from serving as the head of the Mossad, while Grunis, in a separate opinion, recommended that Gofman be disqualified.
Grunis stated in his minority opinion that Gofman’s role in the Elmakayes affair amounted to a “very severe ethics flaw” and that his appointment as Mossad chief was therefore “inappropriate.”
The petition also noted that there were “substantial contradictions” between the facts presented in the position of the committee members who approved the appointment, and those of Grunis.
Telem noted in the petition that of the three committee members who approved the appointment, two did not have access to classified documents relating to the Elmakayes case. Grunis did have access to these documents, as did acting Civil Service Commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz, who voted in favor of Gofman’s appointment.
“In light of the serious flaws in the [committee’s] majority decision, and the extreme unreasonableness of the decision to approve the appointment, contrary to the committee chairman’s assertions regarding the integrity of the candidate’s qualifications… the petitioners ask the court to order the cancellation of the appointment and the annulment of the decision of the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee,” Telem stated.
Elmakayes slammed Gofman’s appointment on Sunday as “ridiculous,” saying on X: “Roman Gofman activated me illegally and immediately afterward disavowed me, abandoned me, and did not stop the ongoing nightmare I went through.”
“Someone who abandoned a 17-year-old boy will also abandon Mossad agents,” Elmakayes charged.
Gofman’s appointment “is a real danger to the Mossad and the security of the State of Israel,” he said, vowing to “fight to disqualify his appointment.”
Gofman has claimed he did not know how old Elmakayes was, and that he had ordered that only non-classified information be given to him for publication on social media.
Gofman will replace outgoing Mossad chief David Barnea, whose five-year term is set to end in June. The nomination has drawn criticism from current and former security officials, who have told Hebrew media that Gofman lacks the operational and intelligence background traditionally required to lead the security agency.
He is considered close to Netanyahu, having served as his military secretary for nearly two years. During that time, Gofman traveled on the premier’s behalf for various tasks and oversaw the implementation of the prime minister’s directives in the IDF.
Gofman was also interviewed by the police’s Lahav 433 national crimes unit in February to give open testimony regarding allegations that Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, said he could quash a military investigation into the leak of a classified document to the German Bild newspaper.
The police reportedly believe that Braverman received the information about the military investigation during the course of his work as Netanyahu’s chief of staff, and unlawfully informed one of the subjects of investigation, Netanyahu’s media advisor Eli Feldstein, that he was being investigated.
Source:
www.timesofisrael.com
