Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman is likely to become the next chief of the Mossad after an affidavit appeared to undercut legal petitions seeking to block him from the post.
The petitions alleged that Gofman lied to a military intelligence officer during an investigation into an influence operation. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara had endorsed the petitions’ claims, and called for Gofman’s appointment to lead the intelligence agency to be canceled. Gofman currently serves as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military secretary.
According to the petitions, the intelligence officer asked Gofman whether he knew that classified material had been transferred from his division to a teen named Ori Elmakayes running a Telegram account.
The claims against Gofman are that he lied to the officer, known as “Gimmel,” and said he was unaware of those details. The petitions said, therefore, that his appointment as Mossad chief was inappropriate given his alleged ethical violations.
But an affidavit that “Gimmel” submitted to the High Court of Justice on Sunday appeared to demonstrate that Gofman did not lie during the investigation, according to Hebrew media reports.
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“Gimmel” wrote explicitly in his affidavit that neither he nor Gofman knew who Elmakayes was, and that the issue of Elmakayes’ identity did not come up in their conversation. Instead, the officer asked Gofman if he was aware that classified documents had been transferred out of his division.
The implication was that Gofman could not have lied about knowing of the transfer of intelligence to Elmakayes, because he was not asked about it.
“I myself didn’t know of Ori Elmakayes, nor of his activation [as an intelligence asset] or his Telegram,” “Gimmel” wrote, according to Channel 12.
According to the affidavit, Gofman denied that classified information was transferred out of the division, insisting that only open source material was used for any influence operations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, November 1, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO); Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a farewell ceremony for retiring acting Supreme Court president Uzi Vogelman, at the Supreme Court, in Jerusalem, October 1, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ POOL/ File)
The affidavit appears likely to pave the way for the High Court to dismiss the petitions against Gofman and remove the legal obstacles to his entry into the post in June.
On Monday, the High Court ordered Baharav-Miara to share Gimmel’s affidavit with Netanyahu and Gofman. Netanyahu subsequently asked the court to dismiss the petitions, writing that the document showed “there was no blemish in Gen. Gofman’s conduct.”
He accused the attorney general, with whom he has clashed frequently, of “doing everything to drag her feet and tank the appointment,” according to Ynet.
Baharav-Miara isn’t the only one who has sought to stop Gofman’s appointment. The outgoing head of the Mossad, David Barnea, reportedly also opposes it, instead pushing for his deputy to succeed him. Ynet also reported that officials in the Mossad object to Gofman taking the post, especially in wartime, because he has no prior experience in the spy agency.
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