Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Is Pat Robertson a "friend of Israel?" No.

Jews like Norman Podhoretz and Daniel Lapin (not to mention their water-carrier Toby Katz) are often quick to excuse the frequent anti-Semitic ramblings of people like Pat Robertson on the grounds that he also supports Israel.

In response, I've argued that Robertson that at best a friend of the Likud, and not of Israel as a whole. I've also said that Robertson, and Christians like him, can not be relied upon to support Israel, because their friendship is predicated on the idea that we are to be sacrificial pawns in the rapture story.

Today, I see on Slate that I was right. Pat Robertson has turned visciously on Israel, denouncing the Likud for evacuating the Gaza Strip:
"God says 'I am going to judge the nations who have parted my land.' He said 'I am going to bring judgment against them."
Never mind that most Jews, and most Israelis supported the evacuation. Never mind that the evacuation is clearly in the long-term interests of Israel. The fact that his Christian bible-stories suggest that the evacuations might offend God and delay the rapture is all that worries our friend Robertson. Further proof that if you don't love Israel for what it really is, you can't be trusted to love it at all.