BREAKING: Roman Gofman is the New Mossad Chief
High Court rejects petitions against appointment by majority vote, paving the way for Netanyahu's military secretary to lead Israel's spy agency, despite a dissenting justice and months of legal turmoil.
Israel's Supreme Court rejected two petitions against the appointment of Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman as director of the Mossad intelligence agency on Monday, clearing the final legal obstacle to his taking office. Gofman is set to assume the role tomorrow (June 2).
The ruling was handed down by majority vote, with Justice Ofer Grosskopf and Justice Alex Stein voting to dismiss the petitions. Justice Daphne Barak-Erez dissented, arguing that questions raised by the petitions had not been fully examined and that a conditional order and interim injunction should have been issued to allow further scrutiny of the outstanding issues, without prejudging Gofman's fitness for the role.
Who Is Roman Gofman?
Gofman, 49, has been serving as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military secretary, and is set to replace outgoing Mossad chief David Barnea. Most of the broader criticism of his nomination has focused on his lack of prior Mossad experience.
He was first nominated in December, and the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee approved his appointment, though its chairman, retired Supreme Court president Asher Grunis, dissented on both occasions, arguing that a 2022 affair at the heart of the controversy required further clarification.
The Elmakayes Affair
At the centre of the legal battle is an incident from 2022, when the IDF's 210th Division, commanded by Gofman, authorised a young man named Ori Elmakayes to publish intelligence information on his Telegram channel as part of an online influence operation. Elmakayes was 17 years old at the time, a minor, and was subsequently arrested and indicted for espionage when the Shin Bet discovered the information he was publishing, without knowing he had been working under IDF direction.
Gofman has maintained that he did not know Elmakayes's identity or the specifics of the operation. An IDF investigation resulted in Gofman receiving a disciplinary note in his record. Elmakayes, however, has disputed this account, accusing Gofman of lying to the IDF investigation.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara opposed the appointment, arguing that Gofman had done nothing to exonerate the teenager who was arrested for espionage, a teenager who had in fact been secretly recruited by the military at Gofman's request.
Former Supreme Court president Asher Grunis, chair of the appointments committee, 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."
A Turbulent Road to Confirmation
The appointment process was among the most contested in recent Israeli intelligence history. An earlier Supreme Court ruling had ordered the advisory committee to reconvene after determining that its initial work was incomplete, requiring the committee to hear directly from Elmakayes and from a brigadier general who had submitted an affidavit to the court. The committee re-approved the appointment after those additional hearings, though Grunis again dissented.
With Monday's Supreme Court ruling, the legal path is now clear. Barring any last-minute development, Roman Gofman will become the new head of the Mossad on Tuesday morning, taking the reins of Israel's foreign intelligence service at one of the most turbulent moments in the country's security history.