Israeli
Prime
Minister
Benjamin
Netanyahu
said
early
Sunday
he
was
going
to
the
hospital
for
an
emergency
procedure
to
receive
a
pacemaker,
but
vowed
to
press
ahead
with
his
controversial
judicial
overhaul
plan.
In
a
brief
videotaped
statement
released
at
2
a.m.
local
time,
Netanyahu
said
he
had
been
fitted
with
a
monitoring
device
after
being
briefly
hospitalized
last
week
for
what
his
office
had
said
was
dehydration.
He
said
an
alarm
on
the
device
beeped
Saturday
night,
meaning
he
needed
a
pacemaker
immediately.
“I
feel
excellent,
but
I
listen
to
my
doctors,”
he
said.
In
a
short
statement,
Netanyahu’s
office
said
Israel’s
leader
would
be
placed
under
sedation.
A
top
deputy,
Justice
Minister
Yariv
Levin,
was
to
stand
in
for
him.
Netanyahu’s
office
made
the
announcement
as
Israel
faces
widespread
street
protests
over
Netanyahu’s
contentious
judicial
overhaul
plan.
The
plan
has
triggered
months
of
protests,
with
hundreds
of
thousands
taking
to
the
streets
Saturday
night
to
demonstrate
against
it
ahead
of
a
key
parliament
vote
Monday.
Levin
is
the
mastermind
of
the
overhaul
plan.
Netanyahu’s
office
said
the
prime
minister
would
receive
the
pacemaker
at
Israel’s
Sheba
Hospital,
where
he
was
treated
last
week
as
well.
Netanyahu
said
he
expected
to
be
released
from
the
hospital
on
Sunday
and
head
to
the
Knesset,
or
parliament,
ahead
of
the
expected
vote
on
his
overhaul.
At
the
same
time,
he
said
he
hoped
to
reach
an
agreement
with
his
opponents.
A
pacemaker
is
used
when
a
patient’s
heart
is
beating
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
increases
or
maintains
a
person’s
heartbeat
at
a
normal
rhythm,
allowing
the
heart
to
pump
blood
to
the
body
at
a
normal
rate.
Meanwhile,
tens
of
thousands
of
protesters
marched
into
Jerusalem
on
Saturday
evening
and
hundreds
of
thousands
of
Israelis
took
to
the
streets
in
Tel
Aviv
and
other
cities
in
a
last-ditch
show
of
force
aimed
at
blocking
Netanyahu’s
contentious
judicial
overhaul.
Also
Saturday,
more
than
100
of
Israel’s
former
security
chiefs
signed
a
letter
pleading
with
the
Israeli
premier
to
halt
the
legislation,
and
thousands
of
additional
military
reservists
said
they
would
no
longer
report
for
duty,
in
a
protest
against
the
plan.
In
scorching
heat
that
reached
33
C
(91
F),
the
procession
into
Jerusalem
turned
the
city’s
main
entrance
into
a
sea
of
blue
and
white
Israeli
flags
as
marchers
completed
the
last
leg
of
a
four-day,
70-kilometer
(45-mile)
trek
from
Tel
Aviv
to
Israel’s
parliament.
The
marchers,
who
grew
from
hundreds
to
thousands
as
the
march
progressed,
were
welcomed
in
Jerusalem
by
throngs
of
cheering
protesters
before
they
set
up
camp
in
rows
of
small
white
tents
outside
the
Knesset,
or
parliament,
before
Monday’s
expected
vote.
Meanwhile,
hundreds
of
thousands
flooded
the
streets
of
the
coastal
city
of
Tel
Aviv,
the
country’s
business
and
cultural
capital,
as
well
as
in
Beersheba,
Haifa
and
Netanya.
Netanyahu
and
his
far-right
allies
claim
the
overhaul
is
needed
to
curb
what
they
say
are
the
excessive
powers
of
unelected
judges.
But
their
critics
say
the
plan
will
destroy
the
country’s
system
of
checks
and
balances
and
put
it
on
the
path
toward
authoritarian
rule.
U.S.
President
Joe
Biden
has
urged
Netanyahu
to
halt
the
plan
and
seek
a
broad
consensus.
The
proposed
overhaul
has
drawn
harsh
criticism
from
business
and
medical
leaders,
and
a
fast-rising
number
of
military
reservists
in
key
units
have
said
they
will
stop
reporting
for
duty
if
the
plan
passes,
raising
concern
that
the
country’s
security
interests
could
be
threatened.
An
additional
10,000
reservists
announced
they
were
suspending
duty
on
Saturday
night,
according
to
“Brothers
in
Arms,”
a
protest
group
representing
retired
soldiers.
More
than
100
top
former
security
chiefs,
including
retired
military
commanders,
police
commissioners
and
heads
of
intelligence
agencies,
joined
those
calls
on
Saturday,
signing
a
letter
to
Netanyahu
blaming
him
for
compromising
Israel’s
military
and
urging
him
to
halt
the
legislation.
The
signatories
included
Ehud
Barak,
a
former
Israeli
prime
minister,
and
Moshe
Yaalon,
a
former
army
chief
and
defense
minister.
Both
are
political
rivals
of
Netanyahu.
“The
legislation
is
crushing
those
things
shared
by
Israeli
society,
is
tearing
the
people
apart,
disintegrating
the
IDF
and
inflicting
fatal
blows
on
Israel’s
security,”
the
former
officials
wrote.
“The
legislative
process
violates
the
social
contract
that
has
existed
for
75
years
between
the
Israeli
government
and
thousands
of
reserve
officers
and
soldiers
from
the
land,
air,
sea
and
intelligence
branches
who
have
volunteered
for
many
years
for
the
reserves
to
defend
the
democratic
state
of
Israel,
and
now
announce
with
a
broken
heart
that
they
are
suspending
their
volunteer
service,”
the
letter
said.
Israel
Katz,
a
senior
Cabinet
minister
from
Netanyahu’s
Likud
party,
said
the
bill
would
pass
one
way
or
another
on
Monday.
“I
represent
citizens
who
are
not
ready
to
have
their
voice
canceled
because
of
threats
of
refusal
to
serve”
or
by
those
blocking
the
airport,
highways
and
train
stations,
he
told
Channel
12
TV.
“There
is
a
clear
attempt
here
to
use
military
service
to
force
the
government
to
change
policy.”
After
seven
straight
months
of
the
most
sustained
and
intense
demonstrations
the
country
has
ever
seen,
the
grassroots
protest
movement
has
reached
a
fever
pitch.
The
parliament
is
expected
to
vote
Monday
on
a
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.”
Proponents
say
the
current
“reasonability”
standard
gives
the
judges
excessive
powers
over
decision-making
by
elected
officials.
But
critics
say
that
removing
the
standard,
which
is
invoked
only
in
rare
cases,
would
allow
the
government
to
pass
arbitrary
decisions,
make
improper
appointments
or
firings
and
open
the
door
to
corruption.
Monday’s
vote
would
mark
the
first
major
piece
of
legislation
to
be
approved.
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
make
up
a
wide
swath
of
Israeli
society,
see
the
overhaul
as
a
power
grab
fueled
by
various
personal
and
political
grievances
by
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.
In
a
speech
Thursday,
Netanyahu
doubled
down
on
the
overhaul
and
dismissed
as
absurd
the
accusations
that
the
plan
would
destroy
Israel’s
democratic
foundations.
“This
is
an
attempt
to
mislead
you
over
something
that
has
no
basis
in
reality,”
he
said.
Alarmed
by
the
growing
mass
of
reservists
refusing
to
serve,
the
country’s
defense
minister,
Yoav
Gallant,
pushed
for
a
delay
in
Monday’s
vote,
according
to
reports
in
Israeli
media.
It
was
unclear
if
others
would
join
him.
