JERUSALEM (JTA) — Rabbi Dov Lipman, a dual American-Israeli citizen who was elected to the Knesset, will give up his American citizenship when he takes office.
Lipman, of the Yesh Atid party, will be the third U.S. citizen to serve in the Israeli parliament and the first to voluntarily give up his citizenship, Haaretz reported.
He is No. 17 on the list of the party headed by former television personality Yair Lapid; the party garnered the second highest vote total in the Jan. 22 balloting.
Israel’s Basic Law requires that a Knesset member with a second citizenship do "everything required on his part to be released from such citizenship."
Lipman, of Beit Shemesh, immigrated to Israel from Silver Spring, Md., eight years ago.
Rabbi Meir Kahane was stripped of his U.S. citizenship in 1984 after being sworn in to the Knesset. His attempts to regain his U.S. citizenship failed.
Others who surrendered their U.S. citizenship to serve the Israeli government include Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, and Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador in Washington.
