Key takeaways:
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fitted with a pacemaker after being rushed to hospital.
- Tens of thousands of protesters marched into Jerusalem and hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities to oppose Netanyahu’s judicial reforms.
- More than 100 former security chiefs signed a letter pleading with Netanyahu to halt the legislation, and thousands of military reservists said they would no longer report for duty.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fitted with a pacemaker early Sunday after he was rushed to hospital hours before a key vote on his controversial judicial reforms.
The data indicated that Netanyahu needed an “urgent pacemaker implantation,” according to Professor Roy Beinart, a colleague of Professor Eyal Nof, who spoke in a YouTube video posted by the medical center.
The same day, tens of thousands of protesters marched into Jerusalem 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 judicial overhaul.
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 capital.
The protests and pacemaker implantation come as Netanyahu faces a key vote on his judicial reforms, which have been met with widespread opposition. It remains to be seen how the events of the weekend will affect the outcome of the vote.
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