Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday submitted his response to a petition at the High Court of Justice against the appointment of Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman as the next director of the Mossad intelligence agency.

The premier argued that Gofman’s appointment was a security decision and therefore should be generally exempt from judicial oversight.

“There is actually good reason to assume that the rationality for the prime minister’s decision is ten times better than the ‘rationality’ of anyone else, including the honorable court,” he wrote.

“The responsibility for the security of the state and its citizens lies with the prime minister, and him alone,” Netanyahu asserted.

The petition against Gofman, who has been serving as Netanyahu’s military secretary, was filed by Ori Elmakayes, together with the “Telem — Movement for Integrity in Government” group.

It focused on Gofman’s authorization in 2022, while commanding the Israel Defense Forces’s 210th “Bashan” Regional Division in the Golan Heights, to use Elmakayes, then 17, in an Arabic-language influence campaign.

As a result of Gofman’s actions, Elmakayes was detained and interrogated by the Shin Bet domestic security agency, held in isolation for two months, charged with espionage offenses, and held in detention for 18 months before the charges were dropped.

Telem stated that the petition cited this affair, as well as what it said was Gofman’s failure to tell the truth to IDF investigators who probed the incident.

Additionally, Telem noted that Gofman “remained silent” during the legal proceedings against Elmakayes, and cited “his failure to take responsibility for the affair and the........

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