Editor's note: KAN News later corrected its report, explaining that the individual who received the vaccine was not convicted of manslaughter but rather of other serious crimes. An updated version of the story can be found here.The man who received Israel’s one millionth coronavirus vaccine and was pictured Friday at a celebratory event in Umm el-Fahm with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a man jailed for manslaughter, KAN News reported Sunday.Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab Jabarin, 66, was convicted of stabbing a man to death nearly 40 years ago and served 14 years in prison until his release in 1992.Sources in the city told KAN that they were surprised by the decision and guessed that the organizers of the vaccination did not know about Jabarin’s past.“They want to fall on Netanyahu as if he had a meeting with me, as if I had planned the meeting with him, I paid my debt and threw everything behind,” Jabarin told KAN. “I have children and grandchildren. I came to get vaccinated, and the attending physician told me, ‘You are the millionth vaccinated. Netanyahu will say hello and ask how you are and that’s all.’“I was asked to come and get vaccinated and I got vaccinated,” he continued. “I am an elderly and sick man and whoever wants to attack Netanyahu should not do it through me.”The man said that he “sat in jail, like a million people who sat in jail since the establishment of the state,” in a separate interview with Army Radio. “I was not convicted of murder. I’m going to sue whoever said that. They used me to bash the prime minister.”
Several Arab politicians in fact used Jabarin’s public vaccination as an opportunity to put down Netanyahu.
Several Arab politicians in fact used Jabarin’s public vaccination as an opportunity to put down Netanyahu.
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“In Umm el-Fahm, like in all of Arab society, Netanyahu is neither a guest nor welcomed,” tweeted MK Sami Abou Shahadeh, who was in the city at the same time as the prime minister on Friday. “Netanyahu’s coronavirus campaign in Arab society will fail.”But Health Minister Yuli Edelstein had a different take on events. He said in a statement Sunday that, “this is the best proof that we are not doing any acting. We are not looking for a ‘pet’ to be vaccinated, someone who will come with us from home, and we will be vaccinated alongside him.”He added that, “Everyone gets vaccinated. The good, the bad, the one who was a prisoner and the one who was not a prisoner. We’re doing real things on the ground. I want to see everyone get vaccinated.”The prime minister and health minister chose to celebrate the one millionth vaccine recipient in an Arab city because vaccination among that population has been low. However, on Sunday, Edelstein visited a Clalit vaccination clinic in Nazareth, where he said that the country is starting to see an increase in the number of Arabs getting the jab.“We see a line at the clinic here,” he said. “Already, 16% of Arab society has been vaccinated in the district and hopefully the trend will continue.”
