Religious Herald - Robertson offers apology for remarks

Robertson offers apology for remarks

By Robert Dilday

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson of Chesapeake apologized Jan. 12 to the family of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for suggesting on television that Sharon’s recent stroke could be God’s judgment for ceding the Gaza Strip and Northern West Bank to the Palestinians.

“I ask your forgiveness and the forgiveness of the people of Israel for remarks I made at the time concerning the writing of the holy prophet Joel and his view of the inviolate nature of the land of Israel,” Robertson wrote in a letter to Omri Sharon, the prime minister’s son.

“My zeal, my love of Israel, and my concern for the future safety of your nation led me to make remarks which I can now view in retrospect as inappropriate and insensitive in light of a national grief experienced because of your father’s illness,” the letter said.

Robertson’s apology came after the Israeli government decided to exclude Robertson from the team of evangelical Christian leaders working with the government to build a $50 million Christian Heritage Center in the Galilee.

Robertson, whom Israeli officials had long considered a staunch supporter of Israel, told viewers of his show The 700 Club that Sharon had received divine retribution for “dividing God’s land.”

Religion News Service

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