Netanyahu in hospital as Israeli judicial crisis flares
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in hospital after being fitted with a pacemaker on Sunday, as tens of thousands of people converged on Jerusalem to protest a planned overhaul of the Supreme Court being debated in parliament.
With Israel embroiled in its most serious domestic political crisis in decades, the 73-year-old leader was rushed to Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv on Saturday after a heart monitor implanted a week earlier in what was described as a dehydration episode detected a "temporary arrhythmia", his doctors said.
The pacemaker procedure went smoothly and Netanyahu was expected to be discharged later on Sunday, his office said, adding that trips planned to Cyrus and Turkey would be rescheduled.
That should give him enough time to take part in the final vote in parliament on Monday on a key element of his highly contested judicial overhaul, which has ignited months of nationwide protests and concern abroad over Israel's democratic health.
Netanyahu's coalition with a clutch of nationalist and religious parties has been determined to push ahead with plans that would curb the Supreme Court's power to overrule government actions on legal grounds, arguing that the court has become too politically interventionist.
Lawmakers on Sunday began debating a bill to limit the court's ability to void decisions made by the government and ministers it deems "unreasonable". The result of Monday's vote could come as soon as that evening.
Critics say the amendment is being rushed through parliament and will open the door to abuses of power by removing one of the few effective checks on the executive's authority in a country without a formal written constitution.
Supporters say opponents of the bill want to override the will of the majority that voted Netanyahu's government into power last year, and the battle has opened up deep divisions in Israeli society.
Source: CNBC
