Netanyahu has emergency heart surgery hours before tense vote on key reforms

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recovering after an emergency heart procedure on Sunday just hours before a key debate of his government’s contentious judicial reform plans.

Doctors who attended to Mr Netanyahu said the surgery to install a pacemaker went smoothly, and that the 73-year-old was fine.

The prime minister’s office said he expected to be discharged later in the day.

The unexpected news of Mr Netanyahu’s operation came as tensions were reaching a fever pitch across the country with lawmakers set to debate the first major piece of legislation in an overhaul of the judicial system, ahead of a parliamentary vote on passing it into law on Monday.

While Mr Netanyahu and his allies have held that the overhaul is needed to curb “excessive powers” of unelected judges, critics have argued that the plan could push the country down the path towards authoritarian rule.

In a show of protest against the reform plans, which would reduce the power of Israel’s Supreme Court to overrule government actions on legal grounds, tens of thousands of protesters marched on the main highway into Jerusalem on Saturday as a last-ditch aimed at blocking Mr Netanyahu’s plan.

Many of the protesters have also pitched tents in a park near the Israeli parliament, ahead of Monday’s expected vote.

More than 100 of Israel’s former security chiefs also signed a letter begging Mr Netanyahu not to go ahead with the overhaul.

The plan has drawn criticism from medical leaders as well as businesses, and military reservists said they would stop reporting for duty if the plan passes.

The prime minister’s sudden hospitalisation on Sunday added a twist to the series of events.

With the PM’s office suggesting he would be discharged later in the day, it would still give him enough time to take part in the final vote in parliament on Monday.

Mr Netanyahu and his coalition of nationalist and religious parties have argued that the Supreme Court has become too politically interventionist.

However, critics say the changes are being rushed through parliament without due consideration, and that they could lead to abuse of power by removing an effective check on the executive’s authority in the country.

“We’re worried, we’re scared, we’re angry. We’re angry that people are trying to change this country, trying to create a democratic backslide. But we’re also very, very hopeful,” Tzivia Guggenheim, a 24-year-old student in Jerusalem, told Reuters.