2023-07-23 03:11:02
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during a speech on July 5, 2023, in Jerusalem. JACK GUEZ / AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will undergo emergency surgery to insert a pacemaker, his office said in a statement early Sunday, July 23, just days after he was discharged from hospital following a health problem.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu will undergo a pacemaker implantation procedure tonight at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer”the statement said. “The procedure will take place under sedation, and the Minister of Justice as well as Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin will replace him during this time”adds the document.
In a brief video statement released at midnight, the Prime Minister said he had been fitted with a monitoring device after being briefly hospitalized last week. He said an alarm from the device sounded on Saturday evening, which meant he needed a pacemaker immediately.
However, he pledged to pursue his controversial plan to reform the judiciary. ” I feel fine, but I listen to my doctors “, did he declare.
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The head of government said he intended to leave the hospital on Sunday and go to the Knesset (the Israeli parliament), before the expected vote on his reform plan. While the protest is still strong, he said he hoped to reach an agreement with his opponents.
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Binyamin Netanyahu’s office made the announcement as Israel faces massive street protests over the controversial judicial reform plan it wants to implement.
Demonstrators in Jerusalem, opposed to judicial reform. July 22, 2023. HAZEM BADER / AFP
The plan sparked months of protests, and hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets Saturday night to demonstrate against the reform.
Also read: In Israel, tens of thousands of people demonstrate against judicial reform, as a crucial vote approaches
A week ago, Netanyahu, 73, left the same medical center after being hospitalized overnight for dizziness.
A pacemaker is used when a patient’s heart beats too slowly, which can cause fainting, according to the National Institutes of Health. It can also be used to treat heart failure. By sending electrical impulses to the heart, the device increases or maintains a person’s heart rate at a normal level, which allows the heart to pump blood through the body at a normal rate.
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