Netanyahu formally discharged from hospital after leaving early to shore up his unstable coalition
The Israeli prime minister had left the hospital early to cast a key vote
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, Feb. 19, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been formally discharged from the hospital four days after prostate removal surgery — and two days after he left his hospital bed early to cast a decisive vote on a budget bill, stymying a rebellion in his own governing coalition.
“I just left Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and want to thank the many, many of you, citizens of Israel, for the prayers, strength and support that greatly moved me and my family,” he tweeted Thursday, also thanking the medical team at the Jerusalem medical center.
Netanyahu, 75, underwent the successful operation on Dec. 29 and was meant to recover in the hospital for several days. But he went to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, two days later contrary to medical advice to ensure the passage of a tax bill, a sign of festering divisions in Israel’s government as the new year begins.
One of Netanyahu’s governing coalition partners — the far-right Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power party — is demanding a funding boost for the Israel Police, and has been voting against the coalition’s bills as a pressure tactic. The party’s leader, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, oversees the police — and has not received the funds he is seeking.
Without that support, Netanyahu’s vote was necessary to ensure the tax bill’s passage. Another member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, Boaz Bismuth, likewise left the weeklong shiva mourning period for his recently deceased mother to vote for the bill. It ended up passing by one vote, 59-58.
Netanyahu, who returned to the hospital after the vote, excoriated Ben-Gvir, posting on X that he, along with the other members of the coalition, should “refrain from shaking up the coalition and endangering the existence of a right-wing government at a decisive moment in Israel’s history.”
Ben-Gvir was unapologetic, tweeting, “I have no problem taking the heat, even when it isn’t so popular, even at the price of it hurting me.”
If Ben-Gvir’s six-member party were to exit the coalition, it would leave Netanyahu with a thin majority of 62-58 in the 120-seat Knesset.
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