WASHINGTON — Conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has apologized for suggesting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip.
In a letter to Sharon's son, Omri, the evangelist sought forgiveness for saying last week on his "700 Club" television show that Sharon was "dividing God's land and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course."
"My zeal, my love of Israel and my concern for the future safety of your nation led me to make remarks which I can now view in retrospect as inappropriate and insensitive in light of a national grief experienced because of your father's illness," Robertson said in the letter, dated Wednesday. Sharon, 77, suffered a major stroke last week.
In response to Robertson's initial remarks, Israeli Tourism Minister Avraham Hirschson said Wednesday that Robertson would not be involved in a planned $48 million Christian Heritage Center on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
