Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said he felt “very well” on Saturday night after suffering from mild dizziness and being taken to a hospital for a check-up.
Mr Netanyahu, 73, sparked a brief panic on Saturday afternoon when his office announced he had checked himself in at Sheba Medical Center, a leading hospital near Tel Aviv.
In a statement, his office said the prime minister felt slightly dizzy on Saturday and, on the advice of his personal physician, Dr. Zvi Berkowitz went to the medical center.
Concerns eased hours later after Mr Netanyahu released a video in which he appeared energetic and healthy and explained how he ended up in hospital.
Mr Netanyahu said he spent Friday basking in the sun by the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, where temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit, “with no hat, no water – not a good idea”.
“Thank God I’m very well,” Mr Netanyahu added. “I have just one request for you: we are going through a heat wave in this country. So I’m asking you: spend less time in the sun, drink more water and let’s all have a good week.”
A spokesman for Mr Netanyahu said on Saturday that the prime minister was fully conscious during the drive to the hospital and the subsequent tests and that he was joking with the hospital’s staff and doctors. It was later announced that he would be staying at the center.
“Initial tests were normal with no findings,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. “The first assessment is dehydration. As recommended by doctors, the Prime Minister continues to undergo additional routine check-ups.”
A spokesman for the medical center confirmed the details.
Mr Netanyahu was briefly hospitalized in October after experiencing chest pains in the weeks leading up to last year’s election. The next morning he was filmed jogging. He was also briefly hospitalized in 2018 after suffering from a fever.
Mr. Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and is currently facing one of the most difficult periods of his political career. The prime minister is on trial for corruption, and his coalition – the most right-wing in Israel’s history – has sparked a political crisis by pushing ahead with plans to limit the government’s judicial scrutiny.
The plan sparked a month-long wave of political protests in Israel, which continued with mass demonstrations on Saturday night; deepened longstanding social divisions; drew strong criticism from the Biden administration; and sparked widespread fears of civil war.
If Mr Netanyahu goes ahead with the plan, he risks provoking a general strike and mass resignations of military reservists, who make up an important part of Israel’s military capacity. If he abandons the plan, he risks angering his political allies and crumbling his coalition.
Carol Sutherland contributed a report from Moshav Ben Ami, Israel.
