A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Our first inductee . . . ladies and gentlemen, I give you Pat Robertson:

US evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for "dividing God's land" of Israel, igniting his latest trademark controversy.

As the Israeli prime minister battled for life, Robertson seemed to suggest to viewers on his "700 Club" television show that Sharon was being punished for his policies in Gaza and the West Bank.

 "The prophet Joel makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who, quote, 'divide my land.' God considers this land to be his.

"You read the Bible, he says, 'This is my land.' And for any prime minister of Israel who decides he's going carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No. This is mine.'"

Robertson, who frequently provokes outrage with his remarks, said he was "sad" to see Sharon fall sick, and that he was a "very likeable person."

"I prayed with him personally. But here he is at the point of death. He was dividing God's land, and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU, the United Nations or the United States of America."

"God said, 'This land belongs to me, you better leave it alone.'"

Robertson also appeared to suggest former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, murdered in 1995, had also paid the ultimate price for talking peace.

"He was tragically assassinated, and it was terrible thing that happened, but nevertheless, he was dead."

Robertson's latest blast drew immediate condemnation from Israel's ambassador to the United States.

"Such things are very outrageous. I would expect this only from people like (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad in Iran ... I wouldn't expect it from any of our friends," ambassador Danny Ayalon told CNN.

How very interesting that last paragraph is. It gives us the name of our second inductee. Ladies and gentlemen, a man who nowadays needs no introduction to inhabitants of the Lunatics' Valhalla . . . Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

Iran's president said Thursday he hoped for the death of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the latest anti-Israeli comment by a leader who has already provoked international criticism for suggesting that Israel be "wiped off the map."

"Hopefully, the news that the criminal of Sabra and Chatilla has joined his ancestors is final," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the semiofficial Iranian Students News Agency.

Ahmadinejad was referring to Sharon, who as defense minister in 1982 directed Israel's ill-fated invasion of Lebanon. An Israeli commission found him indirectly responsible for a massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps by Christian Phalangist soldiers.

Iran's official media, including state-run radio and television, did not report Ahmadinejad's remarks about Sharon.

"Hopefully, others (criminals like him) will join him too," ISNA quoted Ahmadinejad as telling a group of clerics in Qom, a holy city 80 miles south of the capital, Tehran. He spoke a day after the 77-year-old Sharon suffered a massive stroke and underwent surgery.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack termed the remarks "hateful and disgusting."

"And this is a man who wraps himself in the cloak of a peaceful religion, Islam, and yet you hear remarks like this coming from him," McCormack said. "This regime has isolated the Iranian people from the rest of the world in a matter of months _ through its actions and its statements."

Do please give a warm hand to our inductees. Your expressions of confidence that future statements will merit the opinion that any and all sophisticated people will have of them is, of course, superfluous. As surely as night follows day, they will find a way to make that feeling of nausea and embarrassment at calling Pat Robertson and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad members of the human race come back again. With a vengeance. In the most inopportune time for the sensitive and the sophisticated. And in the most outrageous manner possible.

(Cross posted on RedState.)

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh comments in rightfully sarcastic fashion.