This week in Christian history: Pat Robertson controversy, Turkey allows church

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, December 31, 2023

Pat Robertson criticized for Ariel Sharon comments – Jan. 5, 2006

Evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson, backed by an Israeli flag, delivers a speech to a crowd of mostly Evangelical Christians from various nations on a pilgrimage to Israel, during an event of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. | Screengrab: CBN

This week marks the anniversary of when prominent televangelist Pat Robertson suggested on his long-running program “The 700 Club” that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke was divine punishment for withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.

“God considers this land to be His. 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,’” stated Robertson at the time.

The remarks stirred up much outrage and backlash, with George W. Bush administration spokesperson Trent Duffy saying Robertson’s remarks were “wholly inappropriate and offensive and really don’t have a place in this or any other debate.”

For his part, Robertson would later send a letter of apology to Sharon’s family, saying that it was his “concern for the future safety of your nation” that had “led me to make remarks which I can now view in retrospect as inappropriate and insensitive.”