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From the Liveblog of Sunday, May 17, 2020

Falafel seller who became symbol of virus’s economic toll suffers heart attack

17 May 2020, 11:18 pm Edit

Yuval Carmi, the falafel seller who became a symbol of the economic toll of the pandemic, has been hospitalized after undergoing a heart attack, Channel 13 reports.

Carmi arrived at the Kaplan Medical Center with chest pains and was taken for emergency treatment shortly before the heart attack.

“Thank God, they made a new man of me. They saved me,” he tells Channel 13. It was not immediately clear when he was hospitalized.

While Carmi was thankful for the outpouring of support for his business since he told his story to the network, he also told of negative reactions.

Yuval Carmi, a falafel store owner in Ashdod who has been hit hard by the pandemic, April 19, 2020. (screen capture: Channel 13)

“I came to the ER. Someone came up to me, his wife recognized me and said ‘Hello.’ Her husband came up and asked her, ‘Do you know him?’ She said, ‘Yes, it’s the crybaby from the television.’

“It hurt me. My heart exploded.”

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