Netanyahu to the High Court: "Throw Out the Petitions Against Gofman"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this evening (Monday) that he received the affidavit from Brig. Gen. G. concerning Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman. Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister, through his legal representatives, asked the High Court to reject the petitions against Gofman’s appointment as head of the Mossad.

The statement from Netanyahu’s office said: "The prime minister reviewed the affidavit carefully and once again concluded that no stain attached to the conduct of Maj. Gen. Gofman." Netanyahu accused Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, saying that in his view she "is doing everything to drag her feet and thwart the appointment," and added that "there are no words to describe" the injustice done to Gofman. He therefore argued that "the honorable court is asked to reject the petitions as quickly as possible and put an end to the obstacle course that the attorney general is seeking to force this appointment through."

Earlier today, it was reported that the affidavit of a senior Mossad official, Brig. Gen. G., gives full backing to Gofman’s version of events. According to the report, the affidavit deals with the content of a phone call Brig. Gen. G. once held with Maj. Gen. Gofman, as part of the inquiry into the issue of Uri Elmakayes’s activation during the period when he was a minor. The document indicates that Brig. Gen. G.’s inquiry with Gofman focused on whether classified intelligence documents had been transferred out of the division.

According to the affidavit, the question posed to Gofman did not deal at all with specific individuals or with transferring materials to particular people, but rather with a general examination of whether classified documents had been transferred from the division at all. Brig. Gen. G. clarified that, contrary to claims that were heard, the possibility that he asked Gofman whether he had transferred materials to Elmakayes or to a minor does not fit the factual reality known to him at that stage.

According to him, at that time he did not know at all about the existence of the relevant Telegram channel, did not know the name of the minor to whom the transfer of the materials was allegedly attributed, and did not even know that the person involved was a minor.

The affidavit argues that since this information was not in the questioner’s possession in real time, it also could not be that Gofman was asked about it—and accordingly, under the line of argument presented, it could not be that he denied anything regarding a subject the questioner himself did not know about at all.

The Supreme Court ordered Baharav-Miara to transfer without delay the classified affidavit she submitted to the judges in a sealed envelope to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to the intended head of the Mossad, Roman Gofman. The decision was made as part of the hearing on the petition against Gofman’s appointment to lead the Mossad, in the midst of a legal and public battle over the appointment process.

In their decision, Supreme Court justices Daphne Barak-Erez, Ofer Grosskopf, and Alex Stein wrote: "Even before a decision is made regarding the classification of the affidavit submitted in a sealed envelope, it must be transferred, by the appropriate means, to the respondents’ representatives who hold the proper clearance, without delay. After that, a decision will be made on how to proceed with the case."