IDF Maj-Gen. Roman Gofman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nominee to move the Mossad, was accredited on Monday to steer the company, clearing the way in which for him to take workplace.
The Monday choice by the Excessive Court docket of Justice comes someday forward of Gofman’s transition ceremony the place he’s set to step into the function on Tuesday.
The petitions in opposition to the appointment have been rejected by a majority vote, with Justices Ofer Grosskopf and Alex Stein within the majority, and Justice Dafna Barak-Erez surmizing that there stay open-ended questions concerning Gofman’s conduct that needs to be investigated.
Upon the Excessive Court docket’s approval of Gofman, outgoing Mossad Director David Barnea, who had publicly opposed his appointment, despatched a letter to all Mossad operatives saying, “I anticipate that every one of you to face by Main Common Gofman, and to proceed to help his entrance to the function [of Mossad chief] in the easiest way doable.”
“We’ve complicated challenges in entrance of us which go to the guts of the safety of the State of Israel, and the Mossad could have a central and influential function concerning them. The success of Main Common Gofman is similar because the success of the Mossad and the success of your entire State of Israel,” he continued.
Barnea concluded, “Tomorrow, June 2, 2026, we’ll conduct the ceremony to alter over the command at Mossad headquarters, within the presence of President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
The Jerusalem Publish understands that Barnea is agency that, regardless of his opposition previous to the Excessive Court docket ruling and apparent tensions between himself and Gofman, given his respect for the ruling, he’ll do all he can to make sure that the changeover ceremony will run easily as in previous such ceremonies.
The prime minister first introduced his intention to nominate Gofman, his navy secretary, to the senior function, in December. Netanyahu accredited Gofman’s appointment in April, after the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee, headed by former Supreme Court docket president Asher Grunis greenlit it. The committee vets candidates for Israel’s most senior public positions, analyzing whether or not there may be any problem of integrity, conduct, or propriety that might make an appointment improper.
The appointment confronted intense authorized hurdles alongside the way in which: difficult it have been a collection of petitions centered on the Elmakayes affair.
Particulars on the Elmakayes affair
Ori Elmakayes, a former IDF soldier who was 17 on the time of the affair when it passed off in 2022, argued that Gofman had acted improperly in reference to an unauthorized IDF-linked affect operation, through which Elmakayes was allegedly used to publish info on a Telegram channel as a part of an affect effort directed at Israel’s enemies.
Elmakayes was later arrested by the Shin Wager on suspicion of significant safety offenses, however the case in opposition to him was finally dropped after the alleged IDF connection emerged.
The difficulty reached the Excessive Court docket of Justice. After reviewing the petitions, the courtroom ordered the committee to reconvene and study the Elmakayes materials earlier than Gofman’s deliberate entry into workplace. The courtroom’s intervention didn’t cancel the appointment, however it required the committee to revisit whether or not the allegations affected Gofman’s suitability for considered one of Israel’s most delicate safety posts.
The committee then held further hearings, heard from Elmakayes for the primary time, and reviewed new materials, together with a sealed affidavit from Brig.-Gen. “G,” the top of the IDF Intelligence Directorate’s Operational Activation Division, concerning the IDF’s inquiry into the incident.
A majority of the committee in the end reaffirmed its help for Gofman, saying the brand new materials strengthened fairly than weakened its place. Grunis dissented, saying additional examination was nonetheless wanted.
