Netanyahu stays in the hospital Monday night after prostate surgery
Sara Netanyahu reportedly did not return from Miami for husband’s surgery because she has COVID; PM calls ultra-Orthodox leader from hospital promising to advance Haredi draft bill
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will remain in the hospital in Jerusalem overnight Monday-Tuesday as planned, after he underwent successful prostate removal surgery on Sunday evening.
Channel 12 reported that he would likely remain in the hospital on Tuesday night as well; hospital staff had said Sunday that he would spend several days under observation.
After his surgery, Netanyahu’s office announced that had been moved to an underground, fortified recovery ward at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. He was moved to the fortified recovery ward due to fears he could be targeted by rocket or missile fire during the ongoing war.
The prime minister was under full anesthesia for the procedure, which his office said was scheduled after doctors discovered an infection in his urinary tract resulting from a benign enlargement of the prostate.
Hadassah’s urology department head Prof. Ofer Gofrit said Monday that the procedure “went as planned,” and that there was “no suspicion of malignancy or cancer.”
Channel 12 also reported that the premier’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, did not return to Israel from Miami, where she has been for the past month, to accompany her husband during his surgery because she had contracted COVID. She was currently receiving medical treatment after showing “severe symptoms” such as high fever and difficulty breathing, the TV report said, citing sources close to the premier’s wife.
The report added that Sara Netanyahu was expected to return to Israel upon her recovery, which could take several days to a week.
A spokesman for the Netanyahu family declined to comment on the report.
Working from the hospital
From his hospital room on Monday, Netanyahu reportedly called United Torah Judaism party chairman and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, to promise that the Knesset would advance a conscription law as demanded by the ultra-Orthodox.
According to the Kan national broadcaster, Goldknopf replied that Netanyahu previously made a similar promise and declined to back down from a threat to vote against a budget-related bill in the Knesset on Tuesday unless presented with a draft of a bill that satisfies his demands.
Goldknopf said Agudat Yisrael — the Hasidic faction within UTJ — would vote against the bill as a “warning sign,” the Walla news site reported, citing an Agudat Yisrael official.
Goldknopf reportedly said he was “not looking to bring down the government” and just wanted Netanyahu “to finally fulfill his commitment.”
Monday morning, the ultra-Orthodox Hamodia daily reported that members of Agudat Yisrael believe there is “no point” in supporting the Trapped Profits Law before the issue of IDF exemptions for yeshiva students is settled, and will therefore vote against it.
Passing legislation to enshrine ultra-Orthodox exemptions from military service after they were struck down by the High Court this summer has become one of Goldknopf’s chief legislative priorities.
Failure to pass a budget by March 31 would result in the automatic dissolution of the government and early elections.
Legislation dealing with the issue of enlistment is currently stuck in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, whose chairman, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, has said that the needs of the IDF must come first and that the panel will only advance the legislation if lawmakers can reach a “broad consensus” on the matter.
In a landmark ruling in June, the High Court of Justice ruled unanimously that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there was no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.
The ultra-Orthodox parties are demanding contentious legislation that broadly maintains the widescale exemption from IDF or other national service of ultra-Orthodox males. Netanyahu, whose governing majority depends on the support of the UTJ and the second ultra-Orthodox party, Shas, has been seeking to meet their demand, in the face of bitter political and public opposition, especially given the unprecedented burden on the IDF, notably including reservists, more than 14 months into a multi-front war.
