Netanyahu’s motorcade said to include ambulance since his pacemaker was installed

Ever since he had a pacemaker installed following a transient heart block last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s motorcade has included an ambulance, according to a report Wednesday.

The Walla news site reported the vehicle was a nondescript van that was not identifiable from the outside as an ambulance.

The report quoted sources in the Prime Minister’s Office confirming that the vehicle was an ambulance, but claiming that it only accompanied Netanyahu on journeys to areas of Israel that are far from hospitals. However, the news outlet said the vehicle has been seen traveling with him when he was in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Caesarea, areas with many hospitals.

In response to the report, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Shin Bet security services said, “We do not discuss security arrangements.”

According to sources that have worked under Netanyahu and recent prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, ambulances were not regularly part of the prime minister’s convoy and were only used in exceptional circumstances.

Netanyahu’s health has been in the headlines ever since his heart surgery last summer. It was only after the operation that his chronic heart condition, known as “transient heart block,” was revealed to the public. He also had not revealed that he had fainted at his home in Caesarea before the heart monitor was implanted, nor that he had a history of cardiac electrical conduction problems.

עכשיו ב @WallaNews – אמבולנס סוואנה אזרחי מלווה את שיירת נתניהו בשגרה מאז אירוע הלב בקיץ שעבר. גורמים במשרד רה"מ אומרים שמדובר בנוהל אבטחה למרחקים מבתי"ח אבל תיעודים של השיירה ברחבי הארץ – ת"א,י-ם וקיסריה – סותרים הטענה. לשכת רהמ: לא מתייחסים לסידורי אבטחהhttps://t.co/MWqtTSjZUb pic.twitter.com/GaiAmH09I2

— Tal Shalev (@talshalev1) May 8, 2024

His health was back in the spotlight in the first week of March, when the prime minister’s office announced that Netanyahu had come down with a bout of flu, forcing him to cancel meetings related to the running of the war in Gaza.

On March 3, a group of October 7 massacre survivors, medical professionals, scientists and a Knesset member asked the High Court to compel Netanyahu to share a detailed health report and name a replacement should he be incapacitated, amid persistent rumors surrounding the premier’s well-being.

They submitted a petition naming Netanyahu, his office, the Israeli government and the attorney general, and claimed that the premier has not followed protocols requiring him to reveal his physical and mental health for years.

Netanyahu, 74, had not published an annual health report from 2016 to 2023, when he received a clean bill of health. However, the petitioners argued that the letters released by Netanyahu’s general practitioner and cardiologist were too general and “say more by what they don’t say than what they do.”

On March 31, the premier underwent hernia surgery. While he was under anesthesia, Justice Minister Yariv Levin was in charge of the country for several hours.