Ariel Sharon has been in this induced coma and on a respirator to aid his healing since he suffered a stroke on Wednesday. The decision to revive him was made after operations successfully stopped bleeding in his brain.
Israelis were keeping an anxious vigil for the 77-year-old prime minister many had seen as the best hope for resolving their conflict with the Palestinians. Ariel Sharon's doctors and supporters are waiting to see how much damage has been done to his brain and this is a prime concern.
The general medical consensus is that he has suffered too much damage to ever be able to return to a political career.
If doctors determine Ariel Sharon is permanently incapacitated, they will inform the attorney general of Israel. Then the Cabinet would choose a replacement prime minister from ministers of Ariel Sharon's new centrist Kadima Party.
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has already taken over as acting PM and would be expected to keep the position in the run-up to an election scheduled for March 28.
Ehud Olmert delivered a message of business as usual yesterday at the weekly Cabinet meeting and at a news conference in which he made a promise for continued economic stability.
Seated next to Ariel Sharon's chair at the Cabinet table, Ehud Olmert pledged to "run matters as he would have wished".
And world leaders have pledged support for Ehud Olmert as he stands in for Ariel Sharon.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began to breathe again on his own last night after doctors began rousing him from the induced coma he had been in and Prof Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director of Jerusalem's Hadassad hospital explained: "I want to point out that the moment we began reducing the dosage, the Prime Minister began breathing independently."
