Benjamin Netanyahu in hospital as judicial reform crisis looms in Israel

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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was taken to hospital early Sunday to have a pacemaker implanted in his heart, as a bitter battle over his government’s plans to reform the judiciary reached a crescendo.

Lawmakers are to vote on Monday on the first issue of an overhaul that has plunged Israel into its deepest political crisis in years, 29 weeks of mass protests, criticism of the US and a crackdown on the country’s vital military reserve.

Doctors at the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv said Netanyahu, 73, had been fitted with a pacemaker – a device designed to control his heartbeat – because he had arrhythmia problems.

Netanyahu had been fitted with a heart monitor a week earlier following hospital treatment, which his office said at the time was due to dehydration from prolonged exposure to the sun.

“All is well, the prime minister is doing very well this morning,” Eyal Nouf, head of Sheba’s invasive electrophysiology service, said in a statement on Sunday morning. Netanyahu said before the operation that he expected to be released in time for Monday’s vote.

Netanyahu has been hospitalized at a time when protests against the overhaul being carried out by his coalition with far-right and ultra-religious parties have intensified. Thousands of protesters arrived in Jerusalem, 70 km from Tel Aviv, on Saturday evening after a four-day march, while more than 100,000 others took part in a demonstration in the center of Tel Aviv.

More protests were due on Sunday, and Arnon Bar-David, head of the Histadrut, Israel’s largest union, said he would “not hesitate to take action” if no agreement was reached. “Everyone on both sides should understand that we are at a historic and critical time for the future of our country,” he said.

Street rallies as well as protests by reservists in Israel’s army have grown louder, with a group of 10,000 known as Brothers in Arms saying on Saturday they would voluntarily stop duty in protest of the overhaul.

His announcement followed a similar threat by 1,100 Air Force reservists on Friday, prompting the military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, to warn that the military’s “cohesion has been damaged, (in a way) that will take a long time to repair”.

Indicating concern among military leaders about the impact of the reservists’ threats, Chief of Staff Harji Halevi warned in a letter to troops on Sunday morning that “we will not be able to exist as a country in the region” if the military is not unified and strong. He wrote, “It is our duty to prevent these cracks from widening.”

A cabinet meeting scheduled for Sunday morning was canceled due to Netanyahu’s hospitalization. But the parliamentary debate on the first judicial changes being carried out by Netanyahu’s government began as planned.

At issue is a bill that would bar Israel’s top court from using a standard of “reasonableness” to overrule government decisions.

Government officials say this, and other changes such as redesigning the body that appoints judges, are necessary to rein in the powers of an overactive judiciary, which they claim has pushed a biased leftist agenda.

But critics see the proposals as a politically motivated assault on Israeli governments for control, which would pave the way for the end of minority rights, fuel corruption and damage the economy.