Peas in a Pod

First, everyone's favorite big-mouth of the moment, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (via YNet):

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted Thursday as saying he was hoping for the death of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

“Hopefully the news that the criminal of Sabra and Shatila has joined his ancestors is final," the semi-official students news agency ISNA quoted him as telling a group of Shi'ite Muslim clerics in Iran's holy city Qom.

Sabra and Shatila are the names of refugee camps in Beirut where pro-Israeli Christian militiamen massacred Palestinians after Sharon masterminded the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

The former Revolutionary Guardsman has made a string of verbal attacks on Israel since taking office in August.

In October he called Israel a "tumor" which should be “wiped off the map .” In subsequent speeches he suggested Israel should be moved to Europe or North America and called the Holocaust a myth.

Not to be outdone, America's favorite mullah Pat Robertson chimes in (via Raw Story):

JTA is reporting that Rev. Pat Robertson has called the deteriorating health of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon divine punishment for a soft stance on Israel. Sharon, who turns 78 next month, is currently believed to be in critical condition following a cerebral hemorrhage.

Robertson also allegedly pointed to the November 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as further evidence that God is punishing leaders willing to divide Israel.

[UPDATE - 11:55am PST] Here's that Robertson quote from JTA:

“He was dividing God’s land,” Robertson said. “And I would say, Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations or the United States of America. God says, This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.”

[UPDATE - 1:10pm PST] Media Matters has the full quote as well as video.

[UPDATE - 3:10pm PST] Tim Grieve over at Salon's War Room asks the question we all have on our minds:

Maybe we're just insufficiently religious to understand things the way that Robertson does. We can understand why people look to God for answers and explanations when a child dies in a freak accident, when a young mother or father is killed in a war started on false pretenses, or when a tsunami wipes out entire parts of the world. Say what you will about his politics, Ariel Sharon is a 77-year-old man with a recent history of medical problems. His death, if it comes, will not be any great metaphysical mystery. What is a mystery is why anyone takes Pat Robertson seriously anymore.