PM to DM on heart incident: ‘If you don’t get to the hospital in minutes, you die’
TV network’s lip readers interpret Netanyahu discussing health issues with Gallant while Knesset debated ‘reasonableness’, and decode defense minister’s bid for compromise on law
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about the gravity of the heart issues he has been suffering from, following two recent hospital visits for cardiac care, according to a TV report based on lip readers who interpreted muted footage of the conversation that took place on Monday afternoon in the Knesset plenum.
Channel 12 presented the lip readers’ decoding of various filmed snippets of conversations inside the plenum, where lawmakers had gathered on Monday to debate and vote on the reasonableness law, the first enacted piece of legislation from the Netanyahu government’s contentious, contested bid to overhaul the judiciary.
Much of what the lip readers interpreted were partial statements, but some of the lines decoded appeared to underline the extent of Netanyahu’s heart problems, and also to document the failed effort by Gallant to broker a last-minute compromise between the coalition and the opposition on the reasonableness law. Despite Gallant’s efforts, the law, which prevents courts from reviewing the “reasonableness” of government and ministerial decisions, was passed without any eleventh-hour softening.
All plenum sessions are filmed for public consumption, though speeches and remarks made into the podium microphone are typically the only ones picked up by the live feed, along with shouted remarks by lawmakers.
The footage showed lawmakers voting on the thousands of amendments filed by the opposition as a filibuster tactic, as Netanyahu was approached repeatedly by various lawmakers who asked how he was doing after his second hospitalization in as many weeks. He had been discharged from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv that same morning.
Among those inquiring into his well-being was Gallant, who was seated alongside him. According to the Channel 12 lip readers, Netanyahu told his defense minister about a test doctors performed during his first hospitalization on July 15. The doctors later said an electrocardiogram test detected heart irregularities. He had a heart monitor implanted during that hospital stay.
Netanyahu, 73, appeared to urge Gallant to have the same test done, to which the defense minister, 64, replied, “I will do this. I will have this checked. It’s good that you’re telling me this now.”
Netanyahu then recalled how he started feeling pain after he had spoken with Gallant on the night of July 22, after which he was rushed to the hospital for a second time. “It begins operating on its own,” Netanyahu was interpreted to say, apparently referencing the heart monitor that went off that night. “There’s nothing you can do. If you don’t get to the hospital within minutes, you die.”
It was not definitively clear that Netanyahu was referring to his own case, or rather to the general danger presented by incidents such as the one he experienced. He presumably was not expecting his comments to be heard or reported on.
But the remarks appear to represent a far more serious account of Netanyahu’s health than the premier has offered publicly.
The prime minister and Sheba presented the cause of his first hospitalization as dehydration, and the doctors said his heart was “completely normal.” Shortly before heading to his second hospitalization, in a video message, Netanyahu said: “A week ago they put in a monitoring device. That device beeped this evening and said I need to receive a pacemaker. I need to do this already tonight. I’m feeling excellent, but I’m listening to my doctors.”
According to a Channel 13 report on July 23, Netanyahu suffered from heart arrhythmia for 12 seconds on July 22, leading his doctors to believe his life was in immediate danger and prompting the urgent implanting of the cardiac pacing device.
After he left the hospital on July 24, two Sheba doctors revealed that Netanyahu had suffered a potentially life-threatening “transient heart block.” They also belatedly acknowledged that they had spotted irregularities in the electrocardiogram test when he was hospitalized the previous week.
One of the doctors, Prof Roy Beinart, explained (Hebrew link) that without the monitor alerting to a problem on July 22 with Netanyahu’s pulse, pointing to an atrioventricular (AV) block, his life could have been in danger. “The disturbance was only for a few seconds. If the disorder had not passed and the heart rate had not recovered, we would reach a slow heart rate, to the point of loss of consciousness and, God forbid, cardiac arrest.”
His colleague Eyal Nof said the monitor had indicated a “transient heart block.” Asked whether the monitor had thus saved Netanyahu’s life, Nof said, “Absolutely.”
Gallant’s failed pleas for compromise
Also during Monday’s plenum session, Channel 12 said the lip readers picked up various other remarks made by lawmakers ahead of the passage of the reasonableness law.
Gallant could be seen by the lip readers talking to Netanyahu, pleading with him to agree to a compromise regarding the overhaul bill as Justice Minister Yariv Levin flanked the premier from the other side.
It was the justice minister’s stance, along with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s refusal to compromise, that reportedly convinced Netanyahu to forgo Gallant’s warnings about the damaging impact of the law, especially within the military, and move forward unilaterally with the legislation.
“Give them something, it doesn’t matter what. Give them something to show them that you’re a democrat, and I’ll go and try to talk to them,” the lip readers quoted Gallant as telling Netanyahu, apparently referring to the need for a concession to opposition lawmakers.
“I’m not against this but it won’t work,” Levin was quoted as having replied, as Netanyahu listened on.
“It’s just a shame. I don’t know [what to do] with you… Give them something! something!” Gallant apparently retorted.
“I’m telling you with 100% certainty [that it won’t work],” Levin was quoted as having responded.
Netanyahu then appeared to suggest that any softening of the reasonableness bill be conditioned on the coalition’s ability to pass another piece of overhaul legislation that would give it more control over the Judicial Selection Committee.
“We have to compromise. Nothing will happen,” Gallant then said according to the lip readers.
Gallant proceeded to speak with other lawmakers in order to broker a compromise, telling Likud Transportation Minister Miri Regev that passing the reasonableness bill would be merely a “Pyrrhic victory” for the coalition.
After realizing that his efforts would not succeed, the lip readers said that Gallant could be seen telling Netanyahu, “This is the reality. it’s not the right thing to do but I accept the majority opinion [in the coalition].”
The reasonableness bill passed 64-0, as the opposition boycotted the vote in protest.
