Robertson Links Sharon Stroke, God's Wrath

Yahoo ^ | Jan 5th, 2005

[laney]

NORFOLK, Va. - Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land."

"God considers this land to be his," Robertson said on his TV program "The 700 Club." "You read the Bible and he says `This is my land,' and 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.'"

Sharon, who ordered Israel's withdrawal from Gaza last year, suffered a severe stroke on Wednesday.

In Robertson's broadcast from his Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach, the evangelist said he had personally prayed about a year ago with Sharon, whom he called "a very tender-hearted man and a good friend." He said he was sad to see Sharon in this condition.

He also said, however, that in the Bible, the prophet Joel "makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who 'divide my land.'"

Sharon "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 ( European Union), the United Nations, or the United States of America," Robertson said.

In discussing what he said was God's insistence that Israel not be divided, Robertson also 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," he said.

The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement urging Christian leaders to distance themselves from the remarks. Robertson made similar comments as the Gaza withdrawal occurred, it said.

"It is outrageous and shocking, but not surprising, that Pat Robertson once again has suggested that God will punish Israel's leaders for any decision to give up land to the Palestinians," said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the group, which fights anti-Semitism. "His remarks are un-Christian and a perversion of religion. Unlike Robertson, we don't see God as cruel and vengeful."

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said a religious leader "should not be making callous political points while a man is struggling for his life."

"Pat Robertson has a political agenda for the entire world, and he seems to think God is ready to take out any world leader who stands in the way of that agenda," Lynn said in a statement.

Robertson spokeswoman Angell Watts said of critics who challenged his remarks, "What they're basically saying is, `How dare Pat Robertson quote the Bible?'"

"This is what the word of God says," Watts said. "This is nothing new to the Christian community."

In August, Robertson suggested on "The 700 Club" that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has long been at odds with U.S. foreign policy. Robertson later apologized for his remarks, saying he "spoke in frustration."

[whenigettime]

Pat is irrelevant anymore. Time for him to retire or maybe he could go sit in a corner.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Too bad, its my opinion, that is free speech you nimrod.

Robertson is an idiot and his followers are just as bad.

If you don't like my opinion, too bad.

Have Pat send a hurricane over my house.

[tflabo]

Who knows the mind of God anyway.....Ariel Sharon is also 77 years old and obese doing a high stress occupation. I bet he was on blood pressure meds....stroke is not an uncommon disease. We all succumb eventually and inevitably.

[Poser]

Right. If God is punishing Sharon, then he must have killed those miners too. Ridiculous.

We have free will. God doesn't interfere. Robertson is a megalomaniacal idiot.

[danamco]

Too bad, its my opinion, that is free speech you nimrod.
Robertson is an idiot and his followers are just as bad.
If you don't like my opinion, too bad.
Have Pat send a hurricane over my house.


Yes, but does that not ALSO counts for P.R. right?
Or is it then OK for us to call you by that same "name"??

How about what they (the "Idiots"} do and say in Israel about Sharon??? P.R.'s remark pales in comparison!!!
See below:


Sharon targeted with "death curse"

Posted on 01/05/2006 8:45:28 PM PST by ChicagoHebrew

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Sharon targeted with 'death curse' Extremists used ritual against Rabin 1 month before he was assassinated Posted: July 26, 2005 1:59 p.m. Eastern


Fringe activists held a midnight kabbalistic ritual in an ancient cemetery calling for angels of death to kill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and thwart his Gaza withdrawal plan, participants in the ceremony told...

The same individuals used the ritual against Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin one month before his assassination in 1995.

The activists said they performed a 'Pulsa Dinura' – a kabbalistic ceremony in which God is asked to curse a sinner, usually an enemy of the Jewish people – and prayed for a death curse to be placed on Sharon.

They argued Sharon's Gaza evacuation will "destroy Israel and the Jewish people" and will cause Jewish deaths.

Rabbi Yosef Dayan, one of the leaders of the ceremony, told "I said 10 months ago that I am willing do the Pulsa Dinura if rabbis are going to instruct me to do that. We decided now it is time. Sharon is endangering the entire Jewish population. He is giving land to the enemies who will use it to attack us. He has let them fire on us with bullets and rockets without retaliation because it serves his purposes. He is going to expel my mother-in-law from Gush Katif [Gaza's Jewish communities]."

The Pulsa Dinura was held late Thursday night in an ancient cemetery in the town of Rosh Pina. It was performed by a kabbalist, who recited prayers that were repeated by 20 men, who, in line with kabbalistic tradition, were all over the age of 40, bearded and first purified themselves in a ritual bath.

Describing the ceremony, participant Baruch Ben Yosef, an activist attorney, told, "It was done in a beautiful cemetery with a thick forest around it, under a full moon. We performed it near the graveside of Shlomo Ben Yosef [the first Jew to be hanged by the British in Palestine after carrying out a revenge attack on an Arab bus.]

"The actual prayer of the Pulsa Dinura was read by the kabbalist. There was a quorum of people that read back the prayer as he read it. And the hope we expressed is that the angels of Kaballah will remove Sharon from continuing to destroy the Jewish people and the land of Israel."

Dayan said, "We are making what we have done public now because you are not supposed to curse a deaf person. You can't curse someone who doesn't know what you did and can't hear you. Now Sharon will know, and we will have fulfilled our obligation."

Dayan claims he put his life on the line by participating.

"If you curse someone who doesn't deserve it, it will boomerang back at us," he said. "So obviously we are sure what Sharon is doing warrants death.

Fringe activist Michael Ben-Horin, also a participant, told , "Sharon cannot be assassinated by a man. He has too many guards and too much security around him. We believe in god, so we are asking god to kill him."

Asked what would be the most appropriate death for Sharon, Ben-Horin replied, "The best thing would be for a Qassam rocket to fall on him like he lets them fall on Jews in Gush Katif. But we'll take what we can get."

Ben-Horin, who, with Dayan, placed a Pulsa Dinura curse on Rabin one month before his assassination, said, "Sharon's death is more important that Rabin's. With Rabin, he was just one man surrounded by many others in power who were pushing for the same capitulation to terror. Here, Sharon is the single man pushing his party and many unwilling people to go along with the evil evacuation plan. Getting rid of Sharon can do the trick."

Dayan told he is not inciting anyone to assassinate Sharon.

"We are talking to angels and spirits, not people," he said. "If someone takes the law into his own hand and kills Sharon, it's not my problem."

Participants in the ceremony are not mainstream leaders in the anti-withdrawal campaign, which distanced itself from the Pulsa Dinura. Some participants have previously been accused of serving as provocateurs and damaging the settlement cause.

National Religious Party Chairman Zevulun Orlev said, "I vehemently condemn those who carried out the 'Pulsa Dinura' ceremony against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The 'Pulsa Dinura' prior to Rabin's assassination caused indescribable and irreversible damage to the religious public and the settlement enterprise, and repeating this act would hurt the legitimate struggle against the pullout."

"We have absolutely nothing to do with this craziness," said a leader of the Yesha settlers council. "It's a handful of nut cases who get a lot of publicity and then it serves to discredit us. Some even think they work for the government."

The Pulsa Dinura is not described directly in the Zohar, the main kabbalistic text, and some kabbalists say it is not real. Adherents of Kabbalah independently developed the idea based on obscure references.

According to Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok, a religious leader from the Benei N'vi'im Yeshiva in Chicago, the popular perception of the Pulsa Dinura as a curse is mistaken.

Tzadok writes, "The Pulsa Dinura has wrongfully been associated with a certain school of Kabbalah. It is not a magical formula. Torah and Judaism have no connection to or tolerance of magic in any form. Therefore, the consideration of anything in holy Kabbalah, an integral part of God's Torah from Sinai, to have any ties to magic is a spurious and offensive suggestion.

"The Pulsa Dinura is actually not a 'curse of death' as many mistakenly believe. No rabbi or kabbalist has the right or authority to curse another to death. In accordance to Torah Law, the only way a Jew is put to death is for violation of specific biblical laws and then only after being tried and condemned by a kosher and authoritative Sanhedrin, the likes of which have not existed in Israel and among the Jewish people since the days of the Temple."

Related stories:

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Gaza evac 'disastrous military move'

Palestinians: Gaza evacuation bad for us

Israeli marchers besieged

Israeli multitudes breach police lines

Israel bars media from covering Gaza evac

100,000 Israelis march to Gaza

Related commentary:

No to 'disengagement'

Editor's note: "ISRAEL BETRAYED?" – the July issue of acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine – is devoted entirely to an in-depth exploration of the controversial forced removal of thousands of Jewish residents from Gaza planned for August, and the likely creation of a Hamas-run terror state many believe will follow. Read more about "ISRAEL BETRAYED?"

Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief, whose past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Mahmoud al-Zahar and leaders of the Taliban.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Yeah, the other guys are idiots too.

Lots of room in the world for idiots, Pat is one of them.

[MonroeDNA]

Keep Sharon alive for at least 15 years.

His eyes might move.

[RightOnline]

"Robertson is an idiot and his followers are just as bad."

Well I don't "follow" ANYone but Jesus Christ......and I find both your post and your tagline offensive as all hell.

[jaime1959]

>On the off chance you are a Christian may I suggest you consider this scripture before refering to a minister of the Lord in the way you do.

1Ch 16:22 [Saying], Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.<

Really? So, I guess I shouldn't speak ill of Al Sharpton or Rev. JJ either, huh?

[N. Beaujon]

He has had mining concessions under several African dictators. I believe some in Sierra Leone and one in Zaire (I think). Friends have included Mobutu and Charles Taylor (or an opposing genocidal dictator, they all merge into one).

Are you serious? So, basically he's our Jesse Jackson. If he's coddled up to those thugs in Sierra Leone then what he has coming to him on Judgment day is unmentionable.

[N. Beaujon]

What do Jesse Jackson, Pat Robertson, and al Qaeda have in common?

Yep. Made the connection after the OP explained Sierra Leone connection.(see above)

[pa mom]

The bible has been translated and retranslated over the years by HUMANS. It is the word of G*d as interpreted by man.

What did Reagan to to deserve Altzhimers? How about the WV miners? We have all offended G*d; why do some of us get to die in our sleep at 100?

[perez24]

Obviously. The senile old coot is perfectly within his right to spout whatever foolishness he desires, and no one is either stating or suggesting otherwise.

I wasn't defending him. I was trying to insulate myself from replies stating that he has the right to say he wants.

What's annoying about this is that Sharon is an older guy and did not appear to be very healthy anyway, so saying that a health problem proves God is mad at him is somewhat attributing meaning to something that was going to happen anyway. He was due to have a health problem whether he's on God's good or bad side.

[billbears]

One of Clintons's "TRIO" who got the Nobel Peace Prize for collaborating with the "Master Terrorist" Yassar Arafat in the WH, was shot to death, remember???

By your own argument, and I'm making a simple observation here, any nation that agrees, supports, or forwards the roadmap to peace would be eligible for God's condemnation. You do realize our own government, under Republican leadership, supports same said roadmap don't you? This has nothing to do with the roadmap (although it is a bad move) and Pat Robertson is off his rocker to suggest it

[MineralMan]

"Free speech and edification are apparently NOT in your vocabulary or are they on the same level as the LSM!??!"

The thing is that free speech works both ways. Pat Robertson is free to say whatever he wishes. The poster you're addressing also has the same freedom.

Many people here on Free Republic have criticized Pat Robertson for his untimely comment on Sharon. I know many of them to be Christians, from other threads.

If Pat is free to speak his mind, so are Freepers free to speak theirs.

[jaime1959]

> On the off chance you are a Christian may I suggest you consider this scripture before refering to a minister of the Lord in the way you do.

1Ch 16:22 [Saying], Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. <

One more thing,

What would crazy, multi-millionaire Pat say in regard to this?

"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24)

[Blessed]

>Really? So, I guess I shouldn't speak ill of Al Sharpton or Rev. JJ either, huh?<

Their is a distinct difference in critisizing someone's decisions or opinion and hurling epitaths at them.But I suspect you know that.

[Blessed]

>The bible has been translated and retranslated over the years by HUMANS. It is the word of G*d as interpreted by man. <

That's a pretty low opinion of the powers of God.It is also a statement that is ignorant of manuscript evidence.The Biblical text has more evidence to support its authenticacy than any other manuscript written 2000 years ago.

[pa mom]

I have a high opinion of the powers of G*d actually. But we disagree on theology, which makes this America, right?

[Zionist Conspirator]

Bottom line, leave Pat alone. He's become, along with Jerry Falwell, two men who have done a ton of good works in their lifetimes, the butt boy of the press. If you can't figure that out, there aren't as many astute Freepers as I thought there were. Realize the real enemy, and Pat isn't it.

Bravo and G-d bless you!

It disgusts me how so many FReepers enjoy jumping on the liberal bandwagon and bashing Pat. You are 100% right in that his words are spoken on an openly sectarian religious show to a specific audience, yet the MSM (and many FReepers) jump down his throat. But then again, FR has its share of avowed atheists and "Theistic evolutionists" as well. Why are these people "conservative" at all? I guess because of their pocketbooks.

Thank you for the backup, flaglady47, and let's hope that Pat doesn't loose his courage because of attacks by the liberals and back-stabbing by closet secular or anti-Israel (or just respectability-craving) FReepers!

And as for Oslo Abe (Foxman) and Baghdad Barry (Lynn), they can go to blazes!