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Dov Lipman

Dov Lipman

Dov Lipman was elected to the 19th Knesset in January 2013, making him the first American born MK in 30 years. He holds a masters degree from Johns Hopkins University and is the author of seven books about Israel and Judaism.

The request, which was submitted just hours before a midnight deadline on Wednesday, will likely postpone the prime minister’s trial until after Israel’s March 2 election.
Three-judge panel rules that a decision on the question of whether an indicted Knesset member can form a government will be handed down at a future date.
After failing to form governments in successive elections and with criminal indictments looming, many in the Likud are questioning whether Israel’s embattled premier still has the political capital necessary to deliver a new Likud-led government.
By law, the transitional government is unable to pass simple budgetary measures or take any major diplomatic initiatives, leaving the country in a state of administrative limbo.
Naftali Bennett policy seeks to deter attacks against Israelis from air, land and sea, while he also aims to improve living conditions for Palestinians in neighboring Gaza.
“It would be far-reaching judicial activism to establish that the president cannot give the mandate to form a government to someone who the citizens of the country vote for, assuming that they vote in high numbers of Netanyahu,” said Professor Yedidia Stern of the Israel Democracy Institute.
The Likud Party has had just four chairmen since its founding, all of whom served as premier.
With the right rallying behind the Israeli prime minister and the left-wing opposition calling for his resignation, the political stalemate inflicting the Jewish state has no end in sight.
With lines drawn in the sand by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, all eyes now turn towards the prospect of a third election, currently slated for March 2020.
The tension with Gaza may have created greater political discord, with Blue and White No. 2 Yair Lapid saying that giving Palestinian Islamic Jihad their demands after they shot more than 450 rockets into Israel means that in the next round, “Hamas cannot sit on the side.”
The government-building logjam continues, with Knesset members analyzing the limited possibilities now in front of them.
Benny Gantz is eyeing a possible minority government with the Joint Arab List, though Knesset members insist that won’t happen—and neither would a third round of elections, if they can help it.