Duo says Sharon's illness is deserved

WASHINGTON — The television evangelist Pat Robertson and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may not agree on much, but both suggested Thursday that the severe illness of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was deserved.

Speaking on his Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club," which says it has 1 million viewers, Robertson said God was punishing Sharon for dividing the land of Israel. Sharon, who engineered Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip last year, suffered a massive stroke Wednesday.

"Sharon was personally a very likable person, and 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 'divide my land,' " Robertson said.

Sharon "was dividing God's land, and I would say: Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course ... ," the 75-year-old Baptist minister said.

Robertson, who ran for president in 1988, has a history of controversial statements. In August, he called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who has long been at odds with U.S. foreign policy. Robertson later apologized for his remarks, saying he "spoke in frustration."

In November, he addressed residents of a Pennsylvania town who ousted school board members who had advocated the teaching of "intelligent design" — the belief that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power — as an alternative to the theory of evolution.

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God," he said. "You just rejected him from your city."

He later said he was simply trying to point out that "our spiritual actions have consequences."

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said Robertson's latest comments violated "simple human decency" and were "profoundly offensive."

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, 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. His remarks are un-Christian and a perversion of religion."

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."

Ahmadinejad, elected in June, previously made headlines by calling the Holocaust a myth.

"Hopefully, the news that the criminal of Sabra and Chatilla has joined his ancestors is final," he was quoted by the Iranian press as saying Thursday. An Israeli commission found Sharon indirectly responsible for the massacre of Palestinians by Christian Phalangist soldiers during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called Ahmadinejad's remarks "hateful and disgusting." He was not asked about Robertson's remarks.

Ahmadinejad recently said that if Europeans insist the Holocaust did occur, then they should give some of their own land for a Jewish state, rather than the one in the Middle East. He also called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

Additional information from

The Associated Press