Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally appointed Major General Roman Gofman, a career military officer, as the next director of Israel's foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad.

The Prime Minister's Office said on the 12th (local time) that Netanyahu had signed the document appointing Major General Gofman as the next Mossad director. Netanyahu had selected him for the post last December. Gofman is scheduled to take office on June 2, when the current Mossad director, David Barnea, completes his five-year term.

Gofman, known as a close associate of Netanyahu, immigrated to Israel from Belarus with his family at age 14. He later studied at Eli Yeshiva, a Jewish school in a settlement in the West Bank. AFP reported that the institution is well known for its right-wing Zionist (Jewish nationalist) orientation.

Gofman enlisted in an armored unit in 1995 and built a long career, eventually serving as a division commander. On October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, he was seriously wounded in fighting with Hamas in southern Israel along the Gaza Strip. He joined the Prime Minister's Office in April 2024 and served for two years as Netanyahu's military secretary. During this period, Gofman oversaw the Israel Defense Forces' execution of the prime minister's directives on Netanyahu's behalf.

He has little experience in intelligence work. The Times of Israel reported that even within the intelligence community there has been criticism that Gofman lacks experience in operations and intelligence, the core functions of an intelligence agency.

While commanding the 210th Bashan Regional Division stationed on the Golan Heights in 2022, Gofman faced allegations that he mobilized teenagers in psychological operations targeting Iran, Hezbollahthe Iran-aligned Lebanese armed groupand Hamas.

At the time, a 17-year-old boy, Ori Elmakayes, carried out an operation to disseminate information he had received from Ministry of National Defense intelligence operatives on Arabic-language social media, and in the process he was detained by security authorities for 18 months on suspicion of leaking military secrets. Gofman argued that he had not known the boy's age and had instructed that only non-classified information be provided.

Regarding Gofman's appointment, Elmakayes wrote on X that it was an "outrageous decision," saying, "He used me illegally, then turned his back and abandoned me, and he did not stop the nightmarish situation I went through."