PM ill with food poisoning; next trial testimony set for Sept. as week’s hearings nixed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suffering from food poisoning and will be working from home for the next three days, his office announced Sunday, in a development that led to all of the week’s planned hearings in the premier’s corruption trial to be postponed — with the next court appearance not coming before September, due to a summer recess in the court system.

After it emerged that Netanyahu had missed Sunday morning’s weekly cabinet meeting, his office released a statement that he was ill.

Netanyahu began feeling sick overnight and was examined at his home by Dr. Alon Hershko, director of the internal medicine department at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem, the Prime Minister’s Office announced.

Hershko diagnosed the prime minister with intestinal inflammation resulting from eating spoiled food.

Netanyahu’s condition was declared good after further testing, said his office, adding that he was receiving intravenous fluids following dehydration that resulted from the illness.

“In accordance with his doctors’ instructions, the prime minister will rest at home for the next three days and will conduct state affairs from there,” said the PMO.

Due to the illness, the Jerusalem District Court canceled Netanyahu’s scheduled testimony in his criminal trial on Monday and Tuesday, meaning that he will not testify again until September at the earliest, as the courts head into summer recess this week until September 5.

Netanyahu’s lawyer Amit Hadad requested that the hearings be postponed, and the State Attorney’s Office agreed, but asked that he testify on Wednesday and Thursday instead.

The court said, however, that it was canceling the hearings rather than postponing them, as they could not be held later in the week due to scheduling conflicts.

During the recess, courts will operate in a reduced capacity.

Netanyahu’s testimony has been repeatedly delayed since it started in December last year, due to the prime minister’s medical issues, the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza, the war with Iran, as well as diplomatic trips abroad and Netanyahu’s general duties as prime minister.

Netanyahu, 75, has battled health issues in recent years. He had his prostate removed in late December, and he had hernia surgery in March 2024. That same month, he missed several days of work after contracting the flu.

In 2023, he underwent surgery to have a pacemaker installed after suffering a transient heart block. A week earlier, he had been hospitalized for what he said at the time was dehydration. Doctors subsequently revealed that the prime minister had had a heart conduction problem for years.

A medical report released in January 2023, the last shared with the public, said Netanyahu was in a “completely normal state of health,” that his pacemaker was working correctly, and that there was no evidence of heart arrhythmia or any other problematic conditions.