By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was admitted to hospital on Saturday dizzy from apparent dehydration, but he was in good condition, his office said, and there were no signs of a possible handover. .
On Saturday night, Energy Minister Israel Katz, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, told Israel’s Channel 13 TV: “He’s coming back to work. This event is behind us. He did not say when the prime minister would return to work.
With his potential absence raising questions as the country faces a crisis over a planned judicial overhaul as well as simmering clashes with the Palestinians and Iran, Netanyahu also decided to quell concerns with a brief video message. .
“Thank God I feel really good,” Netanyahu, 73, said in the clip, which was shown by Israeli TV and which he described as having been recorded at the hospital that received it.
“I ask you all to spend less time in the sun, drink more water and that we all have a good new week,” he added, smiling and apparently wearing a dark blazer over a shirt.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, said he vacationed at the Sea of Galilee on Friday during a heat wave. Temperatures there reached 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday.
The Prime Minister was taken to Sheba Hospital in the town of Tel Hashomer, near his private residence on the coast of Caesarea. Israeli media said he was fully conscious en route to the hospital and entered the emergency room.
Channel 12 TV said he suffered from chest pains, but there was no confirmation on this. He was not being sedated and no proceedings were underway to declare him unfit, he added.
Netanyahu’s office said he was admitted on the recommendation of his doctor after complaining of “slight dizziness”.
“Initial tests came back normal with no results. Preliminary diagnosis is dehydration,” he said, adding that other routine tests were underway. An earlier statement said his condition was fine.
It was not immediately clear who could replace Netanyahu in the event of an emergency succession.
CONTROVERSIAL CHARACTER
When then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke in 2006, he was replaced by his deputy, Ehud Olmert. Justice Minister Yariv Levin replaced Netanyahu on foreign trips.
First elected to the top job in 1996 as leader of the conservative Likud party, Netanyahu has been both dynamic and polarizing. He spearheaded a liberal revolution in Israel, while wary of internationally-backed peacemaking with the Palestinians and negotiations to cap Iran’s nuclear program.
He is in the throes of a domestic outcry over his plan to overhaul the judicial system, which has sparked unprecedented protests from Israelis worried about the future independence of the courts.
Netanyahu himself is on trial after being indicted in three corruption cases. He denies any wrongdoing and framed the trial as a politicized witch hunt.
As hundreds of military reservists threatened to disregard call-up orders to protest government reforms, Israel’s Channel 13 broadcast audio on Wednesday of Netanyahu shouting at a cabinet session that such a insubordination was “inconceivable”.
Israeli television showed one of Netanyahu’s sons, Avner, leaving hospital on Saturday with a female companion. Both were smiling.
“I wish the Prime Minister a full recovery and good health,” tweeted Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the opposition.
In early October, Netanyahu fell ill during the Jewish Yom Kippur fast and was also briefly hospitalized.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Frances Kerry)