Backing the right horse

As I've mentioned before, blogging only every day or two (instead of several times a day, like the big guns) has its advantages and its disadvantages. Some stories I miss entirely, but others grow into something even more interesting while I'm finding time to sit at the keyboard.

Case in point: Pat Robertson and the state of Israel.

The Rev. Pat Robertson said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was punished by God for dividing the Land of Israel.

Speaking on the "700 Club" on Thursday, Robertson suggested that Sharon, who is currently in an induced coma following a massive stroke and cerebral hemorrhage, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated by an Israeli extremist in 1995, were being treated harshly by God for dividing Israel.

Americans are used to this kind of behavior from Robertson, of course; we know there's no disaster so awful that he can't find in it an opportunity to bash his cultural or theological enemies. But apparently the Israelis were taken aback by the Rev's remarks.

It seems that Robertson forgot that, at the same time he was engaging in what some might charitably call condescending anti-semitism, there was also some serious money on the table:

The Israeli government is planning to give up a large slice of land to American Christian evangelicals to build a biblical theme park by the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is said to have walked on water and fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish.

A consortium of Christian groups, led by the television evangelist Pat Robertson, is in negotiation with the Israeli ministry of tourism and a deal is expected in the coming months. The project is expected to bring up to 1 million extra tourists a year but an undeclared benefit will be the cementing of a political alliance between the Israeli rightwing and the American Christian right.

Robertson soon apologized, rather than see the deal get derailed.

Watching the bizarre tango by Robertson and the Israelis as they create Six Flags over Gallilee reminded me of a creepy-but-memorable episode of Bill Moyer's "Now" broadcast last February, examining this unusual alliance of expedience: On one side are the American Christian fundamentalists, who see Israel not only as a pool of millions of potential co-religionists who are only one Testament away from conversion but also, by its very existence, as one important precondition of the End of Times they so devoutly wish for. On the other side are the Zionists in Israel, eager to strengthen political and economic ties to their main ally, the United States.

There was some macabre humor to be found in watching the Christian Zionists and the Jewish Zionists discuss their alliance. Each side is smugly content to exploit the other's political help in the short run, ignoring some profound conflicts of interest along the way. And each side cheerfully assumes that, when the eschatological shit finally hits the temporal fan, the other side will simply have to admit they backed the wrong messianic horse and convert, that's all--either that, or writhe in sulphurous flames for all of eternity, whichever. Either way, no hard feelings.

I just hope that, while I'm being lowered into the lake of unquenchable fire, I'll at least get the satisfaction of watching that part play itself out.