Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was discharged from hospital on Sunday in what health officials described as “excellent”, after a night’s stay that involved a series of tests and was fitted with a machine. implanted heart monitor.
Mr. Netanyahu, 73 years old, was admitted on saturday went to Sheba Medical Center, a leading hospital near Tel Aviv, after feeling mildly dizzy. The medical staff concluded that he was dehydrated.
On Sunday morning, he underwent heart tests, which the prime minister’s office and hospital officials said were both normal.
“His heart was completely normal, without any signs,” Professor Amit Segev, director of the hospital’s cardiology department, said in a statement shortly before Mr. Netanyahu was released.
Professor Segev said that “a series of comprehensive and routine checks” were carried out while the prime minister was fully awake and that included an electrocardiogram. The professor said no arrhythmia was found.
He added that Mr Netanyahu had been fitted with a monitor under his skin, “as is customary, to allow the prime minister’s close professional medical team to continue regular monitoring.”
Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, released a video on Saturday night from the hospital looking cheerful and saying he was “feeling very well”, seeking to allay fears about his health. between early, conflicting reports about his condition.
He said he spent Friday in the sun in the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, where temperatures hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit, “no hat, no water – not an opinion”. good.” The day out includes a boat ride on the lake in the sweltering heat of the afternoon.
“Thank goodness I feel very well,” Netanyahu added. “I have only one request for you: We are experiencing a heatwave in this country. So I ask you: Spend less time in the sun, drink more water and wish us all a good week.”
It was then announced that he would spend the night in the hospital and undergo additional routine examinations, and that the weekly regular cabinet meeting scheduled for Sunday morning would be adjourned. until Monday.
Mr. Netanyahu, who is facing trial on corruption charges, is in the midst of one of the most turbulent periods of his political career, having to balance competing demands. On one side is his hard-line religious conservative and right-wing coalition, which is seeking a fundamental judicial overhaul; on the other is the growing mass protest movement that includes many key elements of Israeli society. Supporters of the overhaul say it is necessary to restore the right balance of power between branches of government and weaken the authority of unelected judges. Its opponents say the proposed changes are anti-democratic and would lead to a kind of dictatorship.
Saturday night saw massive street protests for the 28th straight week, as tens of thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv, a few miles from where Mr. Netanyahu is hospitalized. The nationwide protest movement includes reservists and leaders from the high-tech and medical industries. Union leaders have warned of a general strike if the plan goes ahead.
The next two weeks could be crucial, before Congress pauses at the end of July for a long summer break.
Israel is also facing tensions in the occupied West Bank and along its hostile northern border with Lebanon.
Mr. Netanyahu was briefly hospitalized in October after feeling pain in his chest a few weeks before last year’s election. He was filmed jogging the next morning. He was also briefly hospitalized in 2018 after developing a fever.
