Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will undergo a “routine medical examination” on Friday, his office announced.
The cabinet appointed Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who also holds the post of deputy prime minister, as the acting premier during the check-up, indicating Netanyahu will be sedated.
Defense Minister Israel Katz will temporarily head the security cabinet.
The examination comes after Netanyahu had his prostate removed in late December, with Levin similarly filling in as premier during the surgery. Netanyahu, 75, was operated on days after he underwent a test at a Jerusalem hospital that revealed a urinary tract infection stemming from a benign enlargement of the prostate.
In March 2024, the premier was put under full anesthesia to undergo surgery for a hernia. That same month, he missed several days of work after contracting the flu.
In 2023, he underwent surgery to have a pacemaker installed after suffering a transient heart block. The surgery came a week after he was hospitalized for what he said at the time was dehydration. Doctors subsequently revealed that the prime minister has had a heart conduction problem for years.
A medical report released in January 2023, the last shared with the public, said Netanyahu was in a “completely normal state of health,” that his pacemaker was working correctly and that there was no evidence of heart arrhythmia or any other problematic conditions.
Despite protocols requiring prime ministers to release such health reports annually, Netanyahu did not release one between 2016 and late 2023, and has not done so far this year. He could not be legally forced to share his health information as these protocols, developed by the Prime Minister’s Office, are not enshrined in law.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
It’s not (only) about you.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we’ll remove all ads from your page and you’ll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You appreciate professional journalism
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, during an ongoing war when facts are often distorted and news coverage of Israel often lacks context.
Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.
So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘272776440645465’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
