Israeli high court approves appointment of next Mossad chief

Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, left, arrives to attend the weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday, July 9, 2023. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP)

The Israeli High Court gave the go-ahead for the appointment of the next head of the Mossad spy agency on Monday, despite opposition from the country’s attorney general.

The court rejected, by a vote of two to one, two petitions against the appointment of Major General Roman Gofman, stating that there was “no flaw in his integrity”.

On May 10, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara sent a letter to the court detailing her opposition to Gofman’s appointment.

She accused him of having failed to act when in 2022 an Israeli teenager was arrested for espionage who had in fact been secretly recruited by the military at Gofman’s request.

According to the attorney general’s letter, army officers acting “at Gofman’s request” recruited 17-year-old Uri Elmakiyes outside any legal framework to conduct “information gathering and influence” operations online with citizens of enemy countries, mainly Syria.

Unaware that the teenager was acting on behalf of the military, the Shin Bet internal security agency arrested and held him in isolation for nearly two months before moving him to house arrest for more than a year.

Prosecutors eventually dropped all charges against Elmakiyes, following an investigation.

He was one of the two petitioners to the High Court against the appointment.

Gofman denied any knowledge of the affair.

The court wrote in its decision that “Gofman’s conduct in connection with the Elmakiyes affair does not cast moral aspersions upon him, certainly not of a kind that could disqualify him from serving as head of the Mossad”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose Gofman, his current military secretary, for the post in December 2025.

Gofman is expected to take up the post on Tuesday.