Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s health is “good” after surgery to fit a pacemaker, Sheba Hospital announced on Sunday morning. Benyamin Netanyahu was hospitalized overnight to undergo the implantation of a pacemaker at Sheba Tel Hahomer Medical Center in Tel Aviv. “He will remain under medical supervision in the cardiology department,” the hospital said in a statement. A week ago, Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, left the same medical center after being hospitalized overnight for dizziness.
The center then decided to use a Holter monitor to monitor his heart rate as part of cardiological examinations, Professor Amit Segev, head of the cardiology department at Sheba Hospital, said last week. The Israeli Prime Minister was hospitalized, the day after massive demonstrations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem against a judicial reform carried out by his government and which has divided the country for months.
The protest against the justice reform continues
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Israeli protesters marched Saturday in Tel Aviv and near parliament in Jerusalem to hammer home their opposition to a controversial judicial reform that is the subject of a crucial vote in the coming days. “Democracy or revolution! chanted protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday, while tens of thousands of others sang pro-democracy slogans for this 29th consecutive evening of mobilization.
On Saturday, demonstrations also took place in Beersheva (south), Herzliya and Kfar Saba north of Tel Aviv, according to images distributed by the organizers. “The government is not listening to us, that means it’s the beginning of a new era, a bad era,” said Idit Dekel, 55. According to the government, the reform aims, among other things, to rebalance powers, by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, which the executive considers politicized, in favor of Parliament. But its detractors believe that it risks opening the way to an anti-liberal or authoritarian drift.
From Sunday noon in the Knesset (Parliament), debates will be held on a reform measure aimed at canceling the possibility for Israeli justice to rule on the “reasonableness” of government decisions. This clause will then be voted on at 2nd and 3rd readings. If passed, it will be the first major component of the proposed judicial reform to become law.