One of Israel’s top anti-vaxx activists has died from COVID-19, two days after posting a final message to his followers ordering them to “continue to fight” against the shot that could have saved his life.
Hai Shoulian, 57, spent much of the pandemic organizing protests against coronavirus rules, including mask warrants and Israel’s vaccine passport system, the Green Pass. He lost his life to COVID-19 on Monday morning after spending ten days at Wolfson Medical Center in Tel Aviv.
His brother, Avi, told The Daily Beast that his family felt they had been shattered as he was heading to his brother’s funeral on Tuesday. “Our dad used to say every table has four legs and we were four, that was our family motto,” he said, weeping. “And since yesterday there are three of us.”
Grandfather said his brother’s death certificate lists the coronavirus as the cause of death. He said he decided to speak to the media to encourage his brother’s supporters to take the vaccine “and save their lives.” The brother added, “I wish I had managed to convince him to save his life.”
In his latest post on Facebook, Hai Shoulian complained about how terrible his symptoms were, but continued to challenge the vaccine.
In a video that showed him receiving oxygen support, he wrote: “I am in very poor condition, it is serious … If I take out the oxygen I cannot walk three meters. I can’t talk or respond to people. It took me about an hour to figure out who I am. Where I am and what I do here … The lack of oxygen is a terrible thing ”.
Despite his condition, he reached a final position against Israel’s Green Pass, saying: “It has nothing to do with the coronavirus. It has nothing to do with vaccines. It has to do with coercion … Continue fighting “.
The traditional name of the anti-vaxxer, Hai, is intended to protect its wearer; means “alive” in Hebrew. In his final message, he signed: “I believe I will achieve it with God’s help. In my opinion, it will take two more weeks, maybe three. “
Two days later, he died of the virus.
When he first fell ill last week, Shoulian claimed police had poisoned him after he was arrested during a protest against the Green Pass. “I’m telling you, it’s an attempt to end me and if something happens to me, you know that’s exactly what happened,” he said.
Shoulian died at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to his younger brother. He blames it on his brother’s decision to become a prominent advocate of the vaccine. “If his business had been in good shape, I think he probably wouldn’t have been vaccinated,” Avi said, “but he wouldn’t have taken to the streets in protest. He would have been busy with work.”
Despite the cause on his brother’s death certificate, Avi tried to persuade police to order an autopsy of Shoulian’s body to rule out foul play, saying, “Another thing I suspect — and it’s just a suspicion — is that he could have been poisoned not by the police but by someone else. “
Shoulian is survived by his mother, three children from a first marriage, his second wife, Yulia Kaprera, and his young son, who is entering first grade.
The number of domestic cases has risen in Israel since late July. Only 17% of eligible Israelis remain unvaccinated, but they account for 65% of all cases of serious COVID disease, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Israeli health ministry.
Read more in The Daily Beast.
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