Man used for IDF influence campaign and charged with espionage accuses incoming Mossad chief of abandoning him

Ori Elmakayes, a blogger who was used by the IDF in an online influence operation and then indicted on espionage charges as a teenager, accuses incoming Mossad chief Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman — who headed the division that enlisted Elmakeyes’ assistance — of abandoning him during his legal ordeal.

“The [IDF’s] use of me under Gofman was for the security of the state, and my struggle today is also for the sake of the country and Mossad agents,” Elmakayes tells the High Court of Justice at the end of a six-hour hearing on petitions against Gofman’s appointment.

“Gofman abandoned me and did not cut short the ongoing nightmare I experienced,” Elamakayes continues. Elmakayes was arrested and interrogated by the Shin Bet, and claims that he was tortured during his interrogation. He was kept in solitary confinement for two months and under different forms of detention for some 18 months before the charges were eventually dropped.

Although the IDF division commanded by Gofman did use Elmakayes in its influence operation, Gofman did not intervene in the criminal proceedings on behalf of the then-17-year-old.

Gofman’s attorney argued in court earlier in the hearing that the commander did not know the full details of the situation or even Elmakayes’ identity, and therefore had been unable to intervene.

“This cannot even be compared to the [possible] abandonment of an agent in an enemy country,” Elmakayes says.

“The danger that a Mossad agent is in is many times greater than what I went through. Prolonged detention and ruining [my] life. My fight is for the Mossad agents, who, if abandoned, face death, and for the security of the entire country.”