Dov Lipman leaving political sphere, aiming for 'new opportunities'
"New opportunities have just opened up that have the potential to make real change on the ground in Israel. For me at this time, it is too good an opportunity to pass up."
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: MAY 8, 2018 18:11Dov Lipman(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Former Yesh Atid MK Dov Lipman, who was expected to be on the party's next list for Knesset, announced Tuesday that he was leaving politics for other opportunities.Lipman thanked his political supporters on Facebook, while leaving his future vague."I want to let you know that I am not continuing my political work at this time and have decided to step away from Yesh Atid," Lipman said. "New opportunities have just opened up that have the potential to make real change on the ground in Israel. For me at this time, it is too good an opportunity to pass up."When asked about his reasoning, Lipman said he made the decision on a personal level to move on to other things related to societal change in Israel and unrelated to politics. He said he was still supportive of Yesh Atid and its leader Yair Lapid and did not step away because of a dispute with them.All Yesh Atid would say on the matter was that "it has been decided that Dov Lipman will no longer represent or be active within the party."When Lipman, who is from Maryland, was elected in 2013 he became the first American in the Knesset since Rabbi Meir Kahane, who served from 1984 to 1988. There are currently two Americans in the Knesset, Deputy Minister Michael Oren (Kulanu), who was born in New York and raised in New Jersey, and Rabbi Yehudah Glick, who was born in New York and raised in Israel.
