Report: Affidavit in Gofman case ‘backs up’ incoming Mossad chief’s account, likely to clear path to his appointment

The affidavit submitted to the High Court of Justice by the military intelligence officer who investigated incoming Mossad chief Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman over a controversial incident in 2022 appears to demonstrate that Gofman did not lie during an IDF investigation about it, Hebrew media reports.

Gofman was accused of lying to the military intelligence officer, referred to as Gimmel, and therefore of having acted unethically during the investigation.

Specifically, allegations were raised in High Court petitions against Gofman’s appointment that he was asked by Gimmel during the investigation whether he knew that intelligence information from Gofman’s 210th Division was transferred to a blogger called Ori Elmakayes for a social media influence operation, and whether he knew that Elmakayes was a minor, 17-years old, at the time.

The claims against Gofman are that he lied to Gimmel and said he was unaware of these details, and that his appointment as Mossad chief was therefore inappropriate given this alleged violation of ethical conduct.

But according to the affidavit submitted by Gimmel to the High Court of Justice yesterday, Gimmel did not ask him these specific questions when he spoke with him at the time, asking instead if he was aware that classified documents had been transferred out of the 210th Division which Gofman commanded, i24 reports.

That means that Gofman could not have lied about his knowledge of the transfer of intelligence to Elmakayes, since he was not asked about it.

According to the affidavit, Gofman denied that classified information had been transferred out of the division, insisting that only open source material was used for any influence operations.

Gimmel also writes 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.

Gimmel’s 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.