Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was taken to the emergency room at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on Saturday. He underwent a “further routine check-up” on Saturday night after the hospital said they thought he was suffering from dehydration and that initial tests had “found nothing unusual”.
“His condition is good and he is undergoing medical tests,” the prime minister’s office said in a first statement on Saturday afternoon.
In a joint statement early Saturday evening, Sheba and the Prime Minister’s Office said: “The Prime Minister spent several hours yesterday in the heat of the day by the Sea of Galilee. Today he complained of a slight dizziness”, and his doctor recommended that he come to Sheba.
“The first tests were normal and nothing unusual was found. The first assessment is dehydration. On the advice of doctors, the Prime Minister is undergoing further routine tests,” the statement continued.
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Netanyahu, 73, was taken by convoy from his home in Caesarea where he was spending the weekend. He was said to be fully conscious and able to walk unaided.
His personal doctor, Tzvi Berkovitz, told Channel 12 News the prime minister’s condition was “good and stable”, adding he was under investigation.
Channel 12 news said Netanyahu had complained of chest pains and asked to be driven to the hospital for tests, including a CT scan. It was said he walked from his car to the emergency room. His wife Sara and son Avner were at his side in the hospital, the TV report said.
The Haaretz and Walla! Hebrew websites reported that he had lost consciousness at home. Channel 12 said Sheba’s doctors had not confirmed this and it was not addressed in Sheba’s official statement.
Wishing Netanyahu good health and a speedy recovery, opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter: “Feeling better.”
Netanyahu heads an unprecedentedly tough Israeli coalition government that has sparked internal opposition to its judicial reform plans for more than six months. A law blocking judicial scrutiny of the “reasonableness” of politicians’ decisions — the first bill of reforms tabled since Netanyahu temporarily frozen the legislative initiative in late March — is due to go through the committee stage next week and come into force on or around March 23. July. The Knesset will suspend its summer recess at the end of the month.
In October, Netanyahu was hospitalized at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center after feeling unwell during services at the Yom Kippur Synagogue. He was released the next morning after undergoing physical examinations and staying overnight for observation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives his personal physician Dr. Tzvi Berkovitz received a coronavirus vaccine at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, becoming the first Israeli to receive the vaccine. (Amir Cohen/Pool/AFP)
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, has not appointed an official prime minister since beginning his second term in 2009, and also abstained when he returned to office in late July, posing the risk of political chaos if he were to suddenly vacate his seat or become incapacitated. Justice Minister Yariv Levin holds the title of deputy prime minister, but that would not mean that Levin would automatically step in for Netanyahu in such a case.
In the past, Netanyahu has appointed a fellow minister to temporarily deputize for trips abroad or brief scheduled medical procedures.