Pat Robertson: Sharon Punished for Dividing Israel

JTA ^ | 1/5/06

[areafiftyone]

The Rev. Pat Robertson said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is being punished by God for dividing the Land of Israel. Robertson, speaking on the “700 Club” on Thursday, suggested Sharon, who is currently in an induced coma, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated by an Israeli extremist in 1995, were being treated with enmity by God for dividing Israel. “He was dividing God’s land,” Robertson said. “And I would say, Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations or the United States of America. God says, This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.”

[bigsigh]

This is his quarterly idiotic remark. Tomorrow, he'll swear he didn't say what he said and even if he did, we took it wrong. Actually, I think he and Falwell alternate quarters.

[dmz]

My wrist hurts like hell right now.

2 days ago I took the Lord's name in vain.

Connected? Stay tuned.

[processing please hold]

I agree.

[MineralMan]

To see Robertson say this stuff, go here. There's a long video clip from his Jan. 5 statement. He said it!:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200601050004

[drjimmy]

My wrist hurts like hell right now. 2 days ago I took the Lord's name in vain. Connected?

Your wrist hurts, huh? Are you sure it wasn't some other sin you committed? Let us know when you start having vision problems.

[Wolfstar]

Can't this fool just STFU! Sheesh!

[areafiftyone]

Thank you so much. I knew this was true. He's a big unfeeling uncaring subhuman being! I'm sorry but he's got no heart!

[processing please hold]

Do I think Sharon capitulated and kissed Islams ass by turning over GAZA? YES. By doing that do I think he worsened the predicament of the Jewish people, YES.

Yes, to both of your questions from me as well.

[Wolfstar]

Does the Bible support his argument? I haven't seen a refutation of what he's saying.

Oh, puhleeeese.

[DallasMike]

Again, full transcript anyone?

Agreed. The mainstream media has built a whole industry out of twisting people's sayings all out of proportion. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are their favorite punching bags. Robertson may well have said something stupid but I have a feeling that whatever he said, when taken in context, doesn't quite reach the proportions of stupidity that the mainstream media believes it does.

[Mogengator]

Pat is nuttier than a pecan orchard. Somebody should put him in a nursing home where they could wipe the drool off his chin.

[MineralMan]

Found it on Google News by searching Pat Robertson. It was the first hit. There will be lots more of this shortly in the news, I have no doubt. Robertson has pretty much done it again. Maybe it'll be his last time. Does anyone really watch The 700 Club any more?

[MineralMan]

See the link above. Listen to the idiot yourself.

[Zman516]

Shut it, Pat.

Sharon suffered a stroke because he's old and he's a human being. Stuff like this happens to everyone eventually...except you, Pat. I expect you'll be transfigured and proceed directly to your rightful place at the right hand of God.

[Thorin]

Robertson is a complete jackass.

[areafiftyone]

Robertson blamed Sharon stroke on policy of "dividing God's land"

Summary: Pat Robertson suggested that Ariel Sharon's stroke occurred because he was "dividing God's land."

On the January 5 edition of Christian Broadcasting Network's (CBN) The 700 Club, host Pat Robertson suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent stroke was the result of Sharon's policy, which he claimed is "dividing God's land." Robertson admonished: "I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU [European Union], the United Nations, or United States of America." Although Robertson professed that "Sharon was personally a very likeable person," he nonetheless declared that "God has enmity against those who, quote, 'divide my land.' " Robertson called the 1995 assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin "the same thing." A previous CBN news article, titled "Dividing the Land, Dishonoring God's Covenant," examined Sharon's decision to return control of the Gaza strip to the Palestinian Authority.

Robertson's comment was first reported by JTA, an international news service that covers "issues of concern to the Jewish people," and Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points Memo weblog, which links to the JTA website.

From the January 5 edition of CBN's The 700 Club:

ROBERTSON: I have said last year that Israel was entering into the most dangerous period of its entire existence as a nation. That is intensifying this year with the loss of Sharon. Sharon was personally a very likeable person. I am sad to see him in this condition. But I think we need to look at the Bible and the Book of Joel. The prophet Joel makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who, quote, "divide my land." God considers this land to be his. You read the Bible, he says, "This is my land." And for any prime minister of Israel who decides he going carve it up and give it away, God says, "No. This is mine." And the same thing -- I had a wonderful meeting with Yitzhak Rabin in 1974. He was tragically assassinated, and it was terrible thing that happened, but nevertheless, he was dead. And now Ariel Sharon, who was again a very likeable person, a delightful person to be with. I prayed with him personally. But here he is at the point of death. He was dividing God's land, and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU, the United Nations or United States of America. God said, "This land belongs to me, you better leave it alone."

[dmz]

The sin of excessive pride, in my book.

[Wolfstar]

I wish President Bush would make a harsh public denunciation of this latest outburst.

President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon, interestingly enough, have a close friendship that pre-dates GWB's presidency. He had visited Israel some years ago, met Sharon and the two struck up a lasting friendship. The two have visited with each other often during the Bush 43 presidency. So I can assure you that GWB in no way agrees with Robertson's rant.

From the White House website:

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is greeted by President George W. Bush and Barney upon the Prime Minister's arrival Monday, April 11, 2005, to the President's ranch in Crawford, Texas. White House photo by Eric Draper

[Barney Gumble]

I agree. If Pat is to make contreversial statements, he should go the Jerry Falwel route when he called Mohammed a terrorist. (I was only disappointed when he was forced to retract his true statement.)

[DarthVader]

Here is the chapter from Joel:

3*For then, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgement with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations. They have divided my land, 3and cast lots for my people, and traded boys for prostitutes, and sold girls for wine, and drunk it down.

4 What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads swiftly and speedily. 5For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.* 6You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. 7But now I will rouse them to leave the places to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads. 8I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away; for the Lord has spoken.


9Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare war,*
stir up the warriors.
Let all the soldiers draw near,
let them come up.
10Beat your ploughshares into swords,
and your pruning-hooks into spears;
let the weakling say, ‘I am a warrior.’


11Come quickly,*
all you nations all around,
gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O Lord.
12Let the nations rouse themselves,
and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there I will sit to judge
all the neighbouring nations.


13Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the wine press is full.
The vats overflow,
for their wickedness is great.


14Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
15The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.


16The Lord roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.


17So you shall know that I, the Lord your God,
dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall never again pass through it.


18On that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the stream beds of Judah
shall flow with water;
a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Wadi Shittim.


19Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they have shed innocent blood.
20But Judah shall be inhabited for ever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
21I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,*
for the Lord dwells in Zion.