Likud Minister of Culture and Sports Miri Regev is to hold the reins of the nation for half an hour on Friday (Oct. 27), serving as acting prime minister, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under sedation for a gastrointestinal procedure, the Prime Minister’s Office said Thursday.
The “periodic gastrointestinal followup test,” as the PMO phrased it, requires sedation for 30 minutes. This is not the first time Regev has stepped in for Netanyahu: the former IDF spokesperson was named acting prime minister in June as well, when the prime minister traveled to Greece.
It was the first time a woman was appointed to the post by Netanyahu.
The prime minister has in the past also appointed Likud ministers Yisrael Katz, Ze’ev Elkin, Yuval Steinitz, Gilad Erdan and Yariv Levin to the post while unable to serve.
Earlier this year, Netanyahu had a stone removed from his bladder. Minister Elkin served as acting prime minister while Netanyahu was sedated for that procedure.
In August 2013, the prime minister underwent successful hernia surgery, which required general anesthesia and which took about an hour. During that time, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon served as acting prime minister.