Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was given the option to hire private representation in the case against his appointment of IDF Maj.-Gen. Roman Gofman to head the Mossad, The Jerusalem Post learned on Tuesday.
A hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday, with preliminary responses on the case due by Friday.
Two High Court petitions have been filed against the appointment, both centered on the Ori Elmakayes affair.
The first, filed by Elmakayes and the Movement for Integrity in Government, argues that Gofman’s conduct while commanding the 210th Bashan Division should have disqualified him from leading Israel’s foreign intelligence agency.
The petition says Elmakayes was a minor when he was used in an unauthorized IDF-linked influence operation, was later detained for an extended period, and saw the case against him collapse after it emerged that information he published had been supplied by intelligence officers.
Serious questions about Gofman’s judgment
The petitioners argue that the affair raised serious questions about Gofman’s judgment, integrity, and reliability, and asked the court to cancel the appointment or require the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee to reconsider it. Justice Yael Willner had ordered an urgent hearing but declined to freeze the appointment.
A second petition, filed by the Movement for Quality Government and Forum Homat Magen LeIsrael, sharpened the challenge by attacking not only Gofman’s conduct but also the process that cleared him.
It argued that the committee majority approved the appointment despite former Supreme Court president Asher Grunis’s lone dissent, without all members being exposed to the full classified material, before Grunis’s full written opinion was completed, and without hearing directly from Elmakayes.
The appointment timeline began with Netanyahu’s nomination of Gofman in December, continued through a delayed committee review, and culminated on April 12, when the committee approved Gofman and Netanyahu signed off on the appointment.
Gofman is set to replace David Barnea on June 2 for a five-year term, with the petitions now asking the High Court to intervene before he enters office.