Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu to be fitted with a pacemaker
CNN —
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will undergo a procedure early Sunday morning so he can be fitted with a pacemaker, a surgery scheduled just before the Knesset is set to vote on a controversial judicial reform bill, according to a statement from his office.
The procedure is scheduled to happen at Tel Hashomer Hospital, says the statement. The prime minister will be sedated during the surgery.
“During the procedure, the Minister of Justice and Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin will take his place,” the statement added.
Netanyahu, 73, earlier announced on Twitter he would be fitted with the device, which sends electrical pulses to the heart.
“I want to update you on what’s going to happen,” Netanyahu said in the video.
“Last week they gave me a monitoring device. The device beeped and said I need a pacemaker, and I need to do that already tonight. I feel great, but I listen to my doctors,” he added.
“The doctors tell me that I will be free tomorrow afternoon already,” said the prime minister. “I will be discharged from the hospital ready to arrive at the Knesset for the vote.”
The Knesset is scheduled to begin voting on a bill that would strip the Supreme Court of the power to declare government decisions “unreasonable,” removing one of the few checks on the government in a country that has no written Constitution. The controversial judicial overhaul plan has drawn thousands-wide protests in Israel over the past few weeks.
Last Saturday, Netanyahu was hospitalized overnight for what his office said was dehydration amid a heat wave in the country. Doctors said the prime minister was fitted with a heart monitor during his stay.
Source: CNN
