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Marxists - Socialists
Pat Robertson Says God is Punishing Sharon
LAST UPDATE: 1/6/2006 7:15:13 AM
Daily News
NEW YORK - The Rev. Pat Robertson said Ariel Sharon's massive stroke was God's way of punishing him for surrendering parts of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians.
The statement Thursday stunned American Jews, and even the White House, which is friendly with the televangelist, was dismayed.
A Bush administration spokesman sighed when he was asked about Robertson's gibe, saying "That's just not helpful."
Robertson, speaking on his "700 Club" cable TV show, said he counts Sharon as a friend.
But the fundamentalist minister said Sharon "was dividing God's land and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course. ... God says, `This land belongs to me. You'd better leave it alone.'"
Sharon plunged Israel into a divinely ordained crisis by withdrawing from Gaza, Robertson said.
"God has enmity against those who divide my land. For any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, `No, this is mine,'" the preacher said.
In discussing what he said was God's insistence that Israel not be divided, Robertson referred to the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who had sought to achieve peace by giving land to the Palestinians. "It was a terrible thing that happened, but nevertheless he was dead," Robertson said.
The Anti-Defamation League expressed "shock and outrage" at the remarks. "We would hope that good Christian leaders would distance themselves from Pat Robertson's remarks," ADL Chairman Abraham Foxman said.
LAST UPDATE: 1/6/2006 7:15:13 AM
Daily News
NEW YORK - The Rev. Pat Robertson said Ariel Sharon's massive stroke was God's way of punishing him for surrendering parts of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians.
The statement Thursday stunned American Jews, and even the White House, which is friendly with the televangelist, was dismayed.
A Bush administration spokesman sighed when he was asked about Robertson's gibe, saying "That's just not helpful."
Robertson, speaking on his "700 Club" cable TV show, said he counts Sharon as a friend.
But the fundamentalist minister said Sharon "was dividing God's land and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course. ... God says, `This land belongs to me. You'd better leave it alone.'"
Sharon plunged Israel into a divinely ordained crisis by withdrawing from Gaza, Robertson said.
"God has enmity against those who divide my land. For any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, `No, this is mine,'" the preacher said.
In discussing what he said was God's insistence that Israel not be divided, Robertson referred to the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who had sought to achieve peace by giving land to the Palestinians. "It was a terrible thing that happened, but nevertheless he was dead," Robertson said.
The Anti-Defamation League expressed "shock and outrage" at the remarks. "We would hope that good Christian leaders would distance themselves from Pat Robertson's remarks," ADL Chairman Abraham Foxman said.
