Israel’s four-term Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a strong challenge in yesterday’s election from a center-left coalition of former generals. While the final election results between the right-wing Netanyahu and the generals were very close, foreign affairs scholar Guy Ziv from American University writes that one thing about the election is clear: The military men opposing Netanyahu failed to use the one argument that could have given voters a clear choice – and fundamentally shifted Israeli politics.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is facing an unprecedented popular uprising against his decades-long rule. The country’s academics are involved in protests that have brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets, though their role isn’t as big as it has been historically. Willow Berridge describes the instrumental role that they played in bringing down previous Sudanese regimes and negotiating the transitions that followed.

Meanwhile, Sudan’s neighbour Libya has problems of its own. It’s seen an escalation of conflict in recent weeks and the fighting is nearing the capital, Tripoli. Jacob Mundy explains that what happens next all depends on Khalifa Haftar, whose Libyan National Army now controls large swathes of territory.