Millionth Israeli vaccine recipient wasn’t a murderer after all, embarrassed Hebrew news site says

It turns out the man was actually a convicted robber.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Kan public broadcasting retracted its claim and apologized for reporting on Sunday that Israel’s millionth coronavirus vaccine recipient had been convicted of a double homicide. World Israel News cited the Kan report and also apologizes.

According to Kan‘s corrected report, 66-year-old Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab Jabarin had actually served 14 years for armed robbery and weapons charges with his last prison term ending in 1999.

“However, we think it was important to broadcast the essential details: a man who has served a lengthy prison sentence for serious offenses stood near the prime minister without anyone around him knowing anything about the man and his past,” Kan reported.

Jabarin told Kan, “I paid my debt to society, and put all that behind me.”

“If people want to take on Netanyahu, they shouldn’t do it via me,” he said. Jabarin now says he’s voting for Netanyahu in the March elections.

Jabarin received Israel’s millionth dose of the coronavirus vaccine on Friday at a facility in the town of Umm Al-Fahm in northern Israel.

Attending the vaccination were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Umm Al-Fahm Mayor Samir Sobhi Mahameed, Clalit Healthcare Services Chairman Harel Locker, and Maccabi Healthcare Services Chairman Ran Saar.

“What excitement, Jabarin is the millionth person in the State of Israel to be vaccinated. We are breaking all of the records,” said Netanyahu on Friday, using the opportunity to celebrate the extraordinary speed with which Israel is vaccinating its population against Covid-19.

“We are ahead of the entire world and now we are ahead of them with our excellent HMOs. We are moving forward at great speed in order to vaccinate the entire population. It is important to me also that the Arab population in the State of Israel be vaccinated quickly,” he said.

“We are all in this together. There is no difference between Jews and Arabs, religious and secular,” Edelstein said.