Israel will not do business with Pat Robertson
Israel stops contact with Robertson: Move follows Robertson’s comments about Sharon
The fact the Rev. Pat Robertson is a confirmed DUMB@$$ is hardly news. This after all, is an alleged man of God who has advocated for the invasion of Venezuela and the assassination of it’s President, Hugo Chavez. Of course, Chavez may be a flaming asshole of the first order, but he is a head of state, and advocating for the assassination is generally considered bad form.
Robertson really stepped in it, though, when he smugly announced that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke was Divine retribution for pulling out of Gaza (Pulling out? Occupationus interruptus? Doesn’t sound manly to me….). Yeah, I know; it was a monumentally stupid and classles thing to say, but then Robertson is a monumentally stupid and classless individual. Finally, though, it appears that Robertson’s lunacy is going to hit him in the only place one can really make an impression upon him…in his wallet.
JERUSALEM - Israel will not do business with Pat Robertson after the evangelical leader suggested Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke was divine punishment for the Gaza withdrawal, a tourism official said today.
Robertson is leading a group of evangelicals who have pledged to raise $50 million to build a large Christian tourism center in Israel’s northern Galilee region, where tradition says Jesus lived and taught.
But Avi Hartuv, a spokesman for Tourism Minister Avraham Hirschson, said Israeli officials were furious with Robertson, a Christian broadcaster. A day after Sharon’s Jan. 4 stroke, Robertson said the prime minister was being punished for “dividing God’s land,” ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ a reference to last summer’s pullout from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.
“We can’t accept this kind of statement,” Hartuv said.
And they shouldn’t have to. Robertson may think that, as a “man of God”, he has carte blanche to give voice to whatever half-assed thought creeps into his pointy li’l head. He may view himself as the Legitimate Mouthpiece of the Almighty, but the reality is simply that Pat Robertson is a DUMB@$$ with his own cable channel.
“We will not do business with him, only with other evangelicals who don’t back these comments,” Hartuv said. “We will do business with other evangelical leaders, friends of Israel, but not with him.”
“Those that publicly support Ariel Sharon’s recovery … are welcome to do business with us.”….
Robertson’s Christian Heritage Center was to be tucked away in 35 acres of rolling Galilee hills, near key Christian sites such as Capernaum, the Mount of the Beatitudes, where tradition says Jesus delivered the Sermon of the Mount, and Tabgha ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ on the shores of the Sea of Galilee ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ where Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fish.
The project was a sign of strengthened ties in recent years between Israel and evangelical Christian groups that support the Jewish state.
Israel was considering leasing the land to the Christians for free. Hirschson predicted it would draw up to 1 million pilgrims annually who would spend $1.5 billion in Israel and support about 40,000 jobs.
Now? Eh, not so much…and who can blame Israelis for wanting nothing to do with such an insensitive, ignorant jackass? Even if he is a “man of God”, Robertson still has a responsibility to conduct himself as a decent, compassionate person. As a man who preaches the Gospel, does he not have an implied responsibility to conduct himself in a Christlike manner?
One has to wonder what those folks who donate so much money to Robertson are thinking? Of course, if they’ve been donating to Robertson over the years, they clearly aren’t going to be moved by the revelation that the object of their financial affection is an unreconstructed DUMB@$$. I suppose this sort of thing happens when you’re preaching to the (very well-heeled) choir. When you see yourself as sitting atop the theological food chain, nothing else really matters, does it?
Jeebus, what a maroon….
