Israel's Netanyahu Recovers from Heart Procedure while Tensions Surge over Judicial Overhaul Plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recovering in hospital on Sunday after an emergency heart procedure while opposition to his government's contentious judicial overhaul plan reached a fever pitch and unrest gripped the country.
Netanyahu's doctors said on Sunday the heart pacemaker implantation went smoothly and that Netanyahu, 73, felt fine. According to his office, he was expected to be discharged later in the day. But tensions were surging as lawmakers were to begin a marathon debate Sunday morning over the first major piece of the overhaul, ahead of a vote in parliament enshrining it into law on Monday.
Mass protests were set to continue. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Israel on Saturday night, while thousands marched into Jerusalem and camped out near the Knesset, or parliament, ahead of Monday's vote, The Associated Press reported.
Netanyahu's sudden hospitalization added another dizzying twist to an already dramatic series of events that are certain to shape Israel's future. It comes as the longest-serving Israeli leader faces the gravest challenge of his leadership and the country's worst domestic crisis which has shaken the economy, forged cracks in the country's military and tested the delicate social fabric that holds the polarized country together.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the hospitalization would have an effect on the legislative process. The weekly Cabinet meeting scheduled for Sunday morning was postponed and Israeli Army Radio reported that a security assessment of the effect of the legal dispute on the military was also taken off Netanyahu's schedule.
In announcing the hospitalization, Netanyahu’s office said that he would be sedated and that a top deputy, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, would stand in for him while he underwent the procedure. Levin, a close confidant of the prime minister, is the mastermind of the overhaul.
In a brief video statement before the implantation, Netanyahu said he “feels excellent” and planned to push forward with the judicial overhaul as soon as he was released, adding that he expected to be released in time to go to the Knesset for Monday’s vote.
Netanyahu was rushed to hospital in the middle of the night a week after being hospitalized for what doctors said was dehydration. They released him after implanting a device to monitor his heart but he was hospitalized again Sunday because it showed anomalies, prompting the need for a pacemaker.
Professor Roy Beinart, a senior physician and director at the Davidai Arrhythmia Center at Sheba Medical Center’s Heart Institute, said in a video that the prime minister needed the pacemaker because he experienced “a temporary arrhythmia,” or irregular heartbeat, Saturday evening.
“The implantation went smoothly, without any complications. He is not in a life-threatening condition," Beinart said. "He feels great and is returning to his daily routine.”
Further ratcheting up the pressure on the Israeli leader, military reservists in fast-rising numbers have been declaring their refusal to serve under a government taking steps that they see as setting the country on a path to dictatorship. Those moves have prompted fears that the military’s preparedness could be compromised.
Among them are essential fighter pilots and ground air force personnel. Some 10,000 reservists from across the military announced Saturday night that they too would stop showing up for duty. Over 100 retired security chiefs publicly supported the growing ranks of military reservists who say they will stop reporting for duty if the plan is passed.
Netanyahu and his far-right allies announced the overhaul plan in January, days after taking office. They claim the plan is needed to curb what they say are the excessive powers of unelected judges. Critics say the plan will destroy the country’s system of checks and balances and put it on the path toward authoritarian rule. US President Joe Biden has urged Netanyahu to halt the plan and seek a broad consensus.
Netanyahu paused the overhaul in March after intense pressure from protesters and labor strikes that halted outgoing flights and shut down parts of the economy. After talks to find a compromise failed, he said his government was pressing on with the overhaul.
Netanyahu keeps a busy schedule and his office says he is in good health. But over the years, it has released few details concerning his well-being or medical records.
A pacemaker is used when a patient’s heart beats too slowly, which can cause fainting spells, according to the National Institutes of Health. It can also be used to treat heart failure. By sending electrical pulses to the heart, the device keeps a person’s heartbeat at a normal rhythm. Patients with pacemakers often return to regular activities within a few days, according to NIH. A hospital stay of at least a day is usually required.
Legislators are set to vote on an overhaul measure that would limit the Supreme Court's oversight powers by preventing judges from striking down government decisions on the basis that they are “unreasonable.” Monday’s vote would mark the first major piece of legislation to be approved.
Proponents say the current “reasonability” standard gives judges excessive powers over decision-making by elected officials. Critics say removing the standard, which is invoked infrequently, would allow the government to pass arbitrary decisions, make improper appointments or firings and open the door to corruption.
The overhaul also calls for other sweeping changes aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary, from limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to challenge parliamentary decisions, to changing the way judges are selected.
Protesters, who come from a wide swath of Israeli society, see the overhaul as a power grab fueled by personal and political grievances of Netanyahu — who is on trial for corruption charges — and his partners who want to deepen Israel’s control of the occupied West Bank and perpetuate controversial draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.

Local Afghans and the Pakistani Taliban said Wednesday that civilians, including women and children, were killed after Pakistan launched rare airstrikes inside neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistani security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with regulations, told The Associated Press that Tuesday's operation was to dismantle a training facility and kill insurgents in the province of Paktika, bordering Afghanistan.
Residents in the area told an AP reporter over the phone that at least 13 people were left dead, adding that the death toll could be higher. They also said the wounded were transported to a local hospital.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Mohammad Khurasani, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed that 50 people, including 27 women and children, have died in the strikes.
Pakistan has not commented on the strikes. However, on Wednesday, the Pakistani military said security forces killed 13 insurgents in an overnight intelligence-based operation in South Waziristan, a district located along eastern Afghanistan's Paktika province.
The strikes are likely to further spike tensions between the two countries. Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban government denounced the attack, saying on Tuesday that most of the victims were refugees from the Waziristan region and promising retaliation.
The TTP is a separate group but also a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
In March, Pakistan said intelligence-based strikes took place in the border regions inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan has seen innumerable militant attacks in the past two decades but there has been an uptick in recent months. The latest was this weekend when at least 16 Pakistani soldiers were killed when TTP attacked a checkpoint in the country’s northwest.
Pakistani officials have accused the Taliban of not doing enough to combat militant activity across the shared border, a charge the Afghan Taliban government denies, saying it does not allow anyone to carry out attacks against any country.

Israel's Netanyahu Recovers from Heart Procedure while Tensions Surge over Judicial Overhaul Plan