High Court asks panel appointing next Mossad chief to review new material, testimony

The High Court of Justice requests that the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee review new material and hear from two new individuals in order to further probe a controversial incident at the heart of petitions against the appointment of Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman as the next head of the Mossad.

The High Court says that the four-member committee’s work in examining the incident was “deficient” since it did not review relevant documentation or hear from key individuals at the heart of the affair.

The court’s request comes following an affidavit submitted to the court on Sunday by a military intelligence official known as “Gimmel,” who had knowledge of the matter, which detailed what he knew regarding Gofman’s knowledge of the affair.

The court recommends specifically that the committee review the affidavit and interview Gimmel himself.

The court also recommends the committee hear from Ori Elmakayes, a former blogger who was used by the IDF division commanded by Gofman in a social media influence campaign, but who was indicted on espionage charges for assisting with that campaign. Gofman did not inform law enforcement agencies that Elmakayes had worked with his division, resulting in Elmakayes remaining in various forms of detention for over 18 months before the charges were ultimately dropped.

Gofman could then be given the opportunity to respond to the new information, the court says.

The court asks the committee to inform it by Thursday if it will take the requested steps, and if it agrees to do so, to complete this work by May 26.

In theory, the committee could decide that its previous decision to recommend that Gofman be appointed was based on an incomplete picture of the incident and reverse its decision.

The initial recommendation was made three to one, with committee chair retired Supreme Court president Asher Grunis voting against Gofman’s appointment and strongly implying Gofman lied about the incident in question.