A murderer received Israel’s one millionth coronavirus vaccine and was pictured Friday at a celebratory event in Umm el-Fahm with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, KAN News reported.
Some 1,090,000 vaccinations had been administered as of Sunday morning, according to Health Minister Yuli Edelstein
Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab Jabarin, 66, was convicted of stabbing a man to death more than 20 years ago and served a prison sentence until 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,” said Jabarin to KAN.
“I have children and grandchildren. I came to get vaccinated, and the attending physician told me, ‘You are the millionth vaccinated. Netanyahu will tell you hello and how are you? and that’s all.’ I was asked to come and get vaccinated and I got vaccinated. I am an elderly and sick man and whoever wants to attack Netanyahu should not do it through me.”
“I sat in jail, like a million people who sat in jail since the establishment of the state,” said Jabarin to Army Radio.
“I was not convicted of murder – I’m going to sue whoever said that. They used me to bash the prime minister.”
“This is the best proof that we are not doing any acting,” said Health Minister Yuli Edelstein. “We are not looking for a pet vaccinated person who will come with us from home and we will be vaccinated with him. 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.”
In Umm el-Fahm, where the one millionth vaccine was administered, vaccination has been low.
“It is important to me that the Arab public in Israel also vaccinate quickly,” Netanyahu stated on Friday. “This is important because it saves lives.”
Several Arab leaders were not pleased with Netanyahu’s performance in the city and said it would be ineffective.
“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. “Netanyahu’s coronavirus campaign in Arab society will fail.” (Jerusalem Post)
