Robertson Judges Sharon
"I will gather the nations (goyim)...and I will impose judgment on them, since they have dispersed my people Israel among the nations and they have divided my land."
Joel 4:2
"The prophet Joel makes it very clear that G-d has enmity against those who divide (His) land.....Sharon was dividing G-d's land ....woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course."
Rev. Pat Robertson on the 700 Club, January 5, 2005
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has survived numerous battles in his long military career, but the toughest battle of them all is his struggle to survive a severe stroke.
To Pat Robertson (1), this is the occasion to characterize Mr. Sharon's misfortune as a divine penalty for his decision to withdraw from Gaza last summer.
The verse quoted above is the only one in the entire Book of Joel that refers to dividing the land of Israel. In context, it is clear that G-d threatens to punish the goyim who have exiled the Jewish people and divided the land among themselves (for example, the Babylonians and Assyrians in Joel's time), not the leaders of the Jews. The verse certainly does not apply to any Prime Minister of Israel today.
Was Sharon right to abandon Gaza to the Palestine Authority (PA)? The August 17 Glazerbeam focused on this question .(2) Gaza, with over a million Arabs, could not be incorporated into Israel without tilting the demographics of the State toward an eventual Arab majority. Hamas claims to have driven Israel out of Gaza; actually Hamas never had the power to do so if Israel required occupying the territory for its own security. What Hamas (plus other Palestinians terrorists) did was the raise the costs of occupation so high that it was no longer worthwhile for Israel to continue it. Gaza is so ungovernable that Egypt refused to take it back in 1977, and even the PA has trouble controlling it now.
Even if you believe that Sharon was wrong to quit-claim Gaza to the PA, his stroke need not be interpreted as divine retribution . All people, however virtuous, eventually get sick and die. Ariel Sharon, an old overweight man, has had serious risk-factors for cardio-vascular disease for years, and has already outlived the majority of other men who were also born in 1928. His plight is sad, but not tragic.
Israel will hold Knesset elections on March 28, and Ehud Olmert will act as Prime Minister until then. My guess is that Kadima, the party he and Sharon founded in October, will win a plurality ( but not a majority) of seats and will form a ruling coalition with Labor and perhaps some smaller parties. If so, the people of Israel will have ratified the decision to quit Gaza, and the stage will be set for a partition of the West Bank as well, probably along the path of the Security Fence.
If that happens, Mr Robertson will probably scour his English translation of the Tanach to find a verse that proves the events have confirmed that he was right all along.
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(1) Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition, was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 1988. He was widely condemned in August, 2005, for publically suggesting that the US kill Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela . (See the August 24 Glazerbeam "Assinine Assassination Advice")
(2) "Good-bye Gaza" August 17, 2005
Joel 4:2
"The prophet Joel makes it very clear that G-d has enmity against those who divide (His) land.....Sharon was dividing G-d's land ....woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course."
Rev. Pat Robertson on the 700 Club, January 5, 2005
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has survived numerous battles in his long military career, but the toughest battle of them all is his struggle to survive a severe stroke.
To Pat Robertson (1), this is the occasion to characterize Mr. Sharon's misfortune as a divine penalty for his decision to withdraw from Gaza last summer.
The verse quoted above is the only one in the entire Book of Joel that refers to dividing the land of Israel. In context, it is clear that G-d threatens to punish the goyim who have exiled the Jewish people and divided the land among themselves (for example, the Babylonians and Assyrians in Joel's time), not the leaders of the Jews. The verse certainly does not apply to any Prime Minister of Israel today.
Was Sharon right to abandon Gaza to the Palestine Authority (PA)? The August 17 Glazerbeam focused on this question .(2) Gaza, with over a million Arabs, could not be incorporated into Israel without tilting the demographics of the State toward an eventual Arab majority. Hamas claims to have driven Israel out of Gaza; actually Hamas never had the power to do so if Israel required occupying the territory for its own security. What Hamas (plus other Palestinians terrorists) did was the raise the costs of occupation so high that it was no longer worthwhile for Israel to continue it. Gaza is so ungovernable that Egypt refused to take it back in 1977, and even the PA has trouble controlling it now.
Even if you believe that Sharon was wrong to quit-claim Gaza to the PA, his stroke need not be interpreted as divine retribution . All people, however virtuous, eventually get sick and die. Ariel Sharon, an old overweight man, has had serious risk-factors for cardio-vascular disease for years, and has already outlived the majority of other men who were also born in 1928. His plight is sad, but not tragic.
Israel will hold Knesset elections on March 28, and Ehud Olmert will act as Prime Minister until then. My guess is that Kadima, the party he and Sharon founded in October, will win a plurality ( but not a majority) of seats and will form a ruling coalition with Labor and perhaps some smaller parties. If so, the people of Israel will have ratified the decision to quit Gaza, and the stage will be set for a partition of the West Bank as well, probably along the path of the Security Fence.
If that happens, Mr Robertson will probably scour his English translation of the Tanach to find a verse that proves the events have confirmed that he was right all along.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition, was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 1988. He was widely condemned in August, 2005, for publically suggesting that the US kill Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela . (See the August 24 Glazerbeam "Assinine Assassination Advice")
(2) "Good-bye Gaza" August 17, 2005
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 9:57 AM
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