Aleph was known in the Mossad as a \u201cBibist\u201d \u2014 a supporter of Netanyahu \u2014 but also was the preferred candidate of Gofman\u2019s predecessor, David Barnea, to take over the post, a source with knowledge of the details told Channel 12 news.<\/p>\n
Gofman ousted Aleph to put an end to the \u201csaga,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n
\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HJ0FflqXIAA9NSY-640x400.jpeg\")
\n\t\tRoman Gofman (left) takes over the Mossad spy agency from David Barnea (right) at a ceremony with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, June 2, 2026. (Via X).<\/p>\n
His decision to dismiss Aleph has been criticized internally, the Ynet news outlet reported, as the new Mossad chief has no intelligence experience and is unfamiliar with the agency. Members of the Mossad would have preferred that Aleph at least stay to aid Gofman while he begins his role, the report said.<\/p>\n
Sources in the Mossad also posited that Aleph might have made things difficult for Gofman, since he saw himself as Barnea\u2019s rightful successor, Ynet added.<\/p>\n
Barnea had reportedly\u00a0opposed<\/a>\u00a0Gofman\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n Gofman is expected to choose someone from inside the Mossad as his deputy, sources told Ynet.<\/p>\n The move to dismiss Aleph came almost a week after the High Court of Justice rejected petitions seeking to annul Gofman\u2019s appointment and allegations that while serving as a senior commander in the IDF, he acted in a manner that violated the required standards of ethical conduct for senior state officials.<\/p>\n While he was the commander of the 210th \u201cBashan\u201d Regional Division in the Golan Heights in 2022, Gofman approved the use of then 17-year-old blogger Ori Elmakayes to carry out an Arabic-language influence campaign against Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.<\/p>\n \t Elmakayes was asked to publish information in his Telegram channel by his handler, referred to as Captain Tzur, since it was read by enemy elements inside Syria.<\/p>\n However, Elmakayes was arrested and interrogated by the Shin Bet, and, so he claims, tortured during the process. He was kept in solitary confinement for two months and under different forms of detention for some 18 months until the charges were eventually dropped, after his lawyers belatedly managed to prove that he had been working with the Israel Defense Forces.<\/p>\n An IDF investigation was conducted in May 2022 into the affair, in which Gofman said he had not known Elmakayes\u2019s identity or the specifics of the operation. The investigation resulted in Gofman receiving a disciplinary note in his record because he had not received authorization to use Elmakayes\u2019s Telegram channel in an operation.<\/p>\n Elmakayes filed a petition against Gofman\u2019s appointment to lead the Mossad on the grounds that he had failed to alert the law enforcement agencies that he had been working in cooperation with the IDF, constituting a major ethical violation leading to Elmakayes\u2019 prolonged legal ordeal.<\/p>\n \t The Movement for Quality Government also filed a petition accusing Gofman of lying to an IDF investigation over the matter, which it said was also a grave ethical violation.<\/p>\n The court ultimately rejected the petitions in a two-to-one decision on Monday, determining that although there were failures with how Gofman handled the incident at the center of the petitions against him, he did not deliberately mislead an investigation into the affair or \u201cabandon\u201d Elmakayes.<\/p>\n Elmakayes said he accepted the court\u2019s decision not to intervene, and that he believed Gofman would act with greater restraint as a result of the legal battle he waged against his appointment.<\/p>\n Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel\u2019s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.<\/p>\n You can screen ‘The Five Houses of Leah Goldberg’<\/strong> June 4-11.\u00a0 Join The Times of Israel Community today <\/strong>to support our work and watch this and other outstanding documentary films in our DocuNation series.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/F260512YS204-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tOri Elmakayes attends a hearing on a petition against the appointment of Roman Gofman as the next Mossad director, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, May 12, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/G7UPj6AXsAA7Mf2-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and his military secretary, Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, seen in a helicopter on June 30, 2024. (Maayan Toaf\/GPO)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tDiscover Israel’s most beloved poet\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-5-Houses-of-Lea-Goldberg-Poster-1-200x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tI want to see it\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/334x334-200x200.png\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n