Et par tusen år etter at både Jesus og Lasarus skal ha vendt tilbake fra de døde, ser vi igjen liknende hendelser i Midtøsten. Denne gang skyldes miraklene ikke guddommelig inngripen, men jihadistenes trang til å skape sympati for sin egen sak:

Muhammad al-Harrani, a father of six from Gaza diagnosed with cancer who reportedly died while waiting for a permit to enter Israel, miraculously «came back to life.» This was not the result of a miracle, but rather, just part of the tactics used by al-Harrani’s family in a bid to secure a permit for him.

Al-Harrani is currently awaiting an entry permit into Israel, so that he can undergo head surgery at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and receive radiation and chemotherapy treatment. At the end of April he was summoned to a questioning session at the Erez Crossing as part of the permit process, but the session was postponed by a week.

On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, al-Harrani’s story was published. His family reported to the «Physicians for Human Rights» organization that he died. «The sick man could not withstand the wait for the permit,» claimed Ran Yaron, Director of the Occupied Territories Department who blamed the Shin Bet for adopting cruel policies against cancer patients.

However, the next day, the organization discovered that al-Harrani was still alive. Members of group estimated that his brother, who reported the death, «killed» him so he does not report to the questioning session.

I følge den israelske interne sikkerhetstjenesten Shin Bet, er misbruk av legeattester ikke helt uvanlig i Gaza:

«Recently there has been an increase in the exploitation of Israel’s humanitarian policy by way of fraudulent medical permits in return for bribes to doctors in the Gaza Strip,» a Shin Bet spokesman told The Jerusalem Post. «This, plus the requests of terrorist activists to enter Israel for medical treatment, increases the danger to state security.»