Liberman leads truncated cabinet meeting in place of ill Netanyahu

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman chaired a high-level security cabinet meeting Wednesday in place of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is sick.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, only two ministers turned up on time for the meeting, Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi and Housing Minister Yoav Galant.

The Hebrew-language Walla news site reported that even once underway, the gathering was cut to just 30 minutes instead of the scheduled four hours.

Netanyahu was discharged early Wednesday after doctors found he was suffering from a viral infection. Earlier he had been taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center suffering from a high fever and coughing.

Netanyahu, 68, was ordered by his personal physician to undergo a series of tests at the hospital, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Shortly after midnight, Netanyahu tweeted that he was on his way home.

“Thanks to for all your concern,” he wrote. “I’m on my way home and I am sure that some rest and hot soup will sort it all out. Good night.”

“Doctors have advised the prime minister to rest and a treatment with medication,” a hospital statement said.

Netanyahu had been sick in recent weeks and his condition initially worsened because he had not taken enough rest to fully recover, Netanyahu’s personal physician, Zvi Berkowitz, said in a Prime Minister’s Office statement sent out just before 10 p.m.

Netanyahu’s earlier illness, which was unspecified, had caused a delay in his questioning by police in a high-profile corruption investigation concerning the Bezeq telecom giant.

He was questioned in the case Monday, along with his wife Sara and son Yair. Netanyahu maintains his innocence in that and two other affairs in which police have recommended he stand trial.

At a medical check-up in August 2016, he received a clean bill of health. In the annual medical report for the prime minister, Berkowitz reported the premier’s health to be “excellent,” and said that Netanyahu maintains a “healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits.”

However, he has undergone a number of operations while in office.

In May, the prime minister had a bladder stone removed under anesthesia.

In December 2015, Netanyahu underwent an exploratory colonoscopy, also under sedation.

The tests revealed a number of polyps, which were successfully removed, his office said at the time.

In 2013, the prime minister also underwent an emergency hernia operation, and a similar colonoscopy in 2014 as part of his annual health examination, results of which were released to the public.