Netanyahu gets a pacemaker for heart defect as unrest escalates in Israel

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushed to hospital early Sunday for surgery to implant a pacemaker, sparking fresh uncertainty over his administration’s highly controversial plan to pass a law on Monday to limit the judiciary.

Doctors at Sheba Medical Center, east of Tel Aviv, said on Sunday morning that the unexpected procedure had been successful and that “the prime minister is doing very well”. But Mr Netanyahu was expected to remain in hospital until at least Monday, a hospital spokesman said.

Pacemakers are usually inserted through a small incision in the chest area and are designed to regulate a person’s heart rate and prevent problems that could lead to cardiac arrest. Small pacemakers can also be placed without a chest incision and with a minimally invasive procedure.

The government’s weekly cabinet meeting, originally scheduled for Sunday morning, was postponed to Monday and it was unclear whether a vote in parliament on the judicial review would go ahead as planned on Monday.

Mr. Netanyahu’s operation came during what many consider Israel’s most serious domestic crisis since its founding 75 years ago.

The prime minister was hospitalized for hours after an unusual wave of street protests, threats of strikes and warnings from thousands of military reservists that they would refuse to volunteer for military service if the judicial review continues. Nevertheless, Netanyahu’s government appeared determined on Sunday to press ahead with the plan, even after his hospitalization.

On Sunday morning, parliament began a debate ahead of a final vote on a bill that would prevent the Supreme Court from using reasonable grounds to strike down government decisions or appointments. The debate was expected to last 26 hours.

Before the debate began, thousands of people gathered at the Western Wall, a Jewish holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City, and held a massive prayer for national unity as public figures made all-out efforts to persuade the government to reach some consensus on the bill with the opposition.

But the political divide only deepened as Mr Netanyahu’s allies declared that the legislation would pass with or without agreement. And later in the day, more large street protests were planned – both for and against the overhaul of the judiciary.

The unrest has put a lot of pressure on Mr Netanyahu. A group of former army chiefs, police commissioners and intelligence directors accused him on Saturday night of dividing the country and endangering security by advancing the judicial overhaul plan.

The government of Mr. Netanyahu wants to limit the ways the Supreme Court can overturn government decisions. The prime minister has said the plan would improve democracy by giving elected lawmakers greater autonomy over unelected judges.

But opponents say it will remove a major impediment to the government’s overreach in a country that has no formal constitution, and that Netanyahu’s far-right ruling coalition — the most ultra-conservative and ultra-nationalist in Israeli history — will create a less pluralistic society.

Critics also fear Mr Netanyahu, currently on trial for corruption, could take advantage of a weakened Supreme Court to make other changes that could undermine his prosecution. Mr Netanyahu denies both the corruption allegations and any allegations that he would use his position to disrupt the process.

Demonstrations against the revision entered their 29th consecutive week on Saturday night, as tens of thousands marched into Jerusalem from the mountains outside the city, blocking sections of a major highway with a sea of ​​blue and white Israeli flags. Some had been walking for five days after leaving Tel Aviv, some 40 miles away, on Tuesday night.

Protesters have also set up a tent city in a park below the parliament building in Jerusalem.

After an emergency meeting late in the evening, the country’s main trade union said it was considering a general strike, in rare coordination with the country’s largest alliance of business leaders. And a group representing 10,000 military reservists said its members would resign from military service if the overhaul continues without social consensus — adding their names to a smaller group of 1,000 Air Force reservists who made a similar threat on Friday.

The reservists’ warnings have sparked fears within the defense organization about Israel’s military readiness. The Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, rely heavily on reservists, particularly the Air Force.

Citing these fears, a group of 15 retired army chiefs, former police commissioners and former directors of foreign and domestic intelligence services wrote a public letter to Mr. Netanyahu on Saturday night, calling him “the person directly responsible for the grave damage to the IDF and Israel’s security.”

Hours later, the Prime Minister began to experience an irregularity in his heart. It was detected by a heart monitor in Sheba less than a week ago after Mr. Netanyahu was rushed to hospital after what one of the doctors at the hospital described on Sunday as a fainting spell.

At the time, the office of Mr. Netanyahu said he had experienced mild dizziness, and doctors said he suffered from dehydration after being out in the sun during a heat wave. But he was hospitalized overnight, underwent tests in the cardiac ward and left with an implanted heart monitor.

The data from the device was “indicative of urgent pacemaker implantation,” said Prof. Roy Beinart, the director of Sheba’s arrhythmias and pacing division.

Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel.