Pat Robertson, the famous US evangelist tele-preacher, has shone again during the tributes and wishes for a prompt recovery of Ariel Sharon.

The Christian fundamentalist close to the Bush family, who called for the assassination of Hugo Chávez in August 2005, described the brain haemorrhage suffered by the Prime Minister as a “divine punishment” for leaving the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians.

See bellow an excerpt of Pat Robertson’s remarks, extracted from his program “The 700 Club”, usually seen by TV viewers around the world:

“The prophet Joel clearly says that there is enmity for those who –and I quote: “divide my country”. God feels this is His land. Read the Bible, where he says : “It is my land”. And regarding any Israeli Prime Minister who decides to divide it and give it away, God says : “No. It is mine”. Ariel Sharon was a very nice man, a person whose company was wonderful…I prayed with him in private. And now he is about to die. He was dividing God’s land and I would say: poor any Prime Minister who takes the same path to relieve the European Union, the United Nations and the United States of America. God said: “This land belongs to me. Leave it alone!”.