wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Planned Christian center in Israel nixed because of

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #9061 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

06008
Jan. 12, 2006

Planned Christian center in Israel
nixed because of evangelist's comments

Pat Robertson said Sharon's stroke was God's punishment
 

by Michele Green
Ecumenical News International  
      
JERUSALEM -- Israel has frozen a $50 million tourism deal with U.S. Christian
broadcaster Pat Robertson because of his suggestion that Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's recent stroke was divine punishment for Israel's pullout from the
Gaza strip.  
       
	"We will not do business with him, only with other evangelicals who
don't back these comments," Ido Hartuv, a tourism ministry spokesperson, said
on Jan. 11.  
       
	Israel had pledged to provide land for a Christian heritage center
Robertson proposed to build on a site overlooking the Sea of Galilee, where
pilgrims could walk in Jesus' footsteps.  
       
	But the tourism ministry said it broke off the negotiations after his
comments on his TV program, "The 700 Club."  
       
	Robertson suggested that the Jan. 4 stroke that has Sharon fighting
for his life in a Jerusalem hospital was punishment for "dividing God's
land," a reference to Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West
Bank settlements last year.  
       
	Robertson said on the air: "The Prophet Joel makes it very clear that
God has enmity against those who 'divide my land.'"  
       
	Robertson's Christian Heritage Center was to have been located near
important Christian sites in Galilee. The center was expected to draw around
one million pilgrims a year, giving a boost to the struggling tourist
industry and creating about 40,000 jobs.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, please send an email to
pcusanews-subscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org or
pcusanews-unsubscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org

To contact the owner of the list, please send an email to
pcusanews-request@halak.pcusa.org