Jerusalem, Israel - The Israeli government is pulling out of a business deal with the American evangelical leader Pat Robertson, after he said Ariel Sharon's stroke was punishment by God for withdrawing from the Gaza strip.
Mr Robertson and the Israeli tourism ministry were shortly to have signed an agreement to fund a $50m (£28m) Christian heritage centre on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
But the ministry said the deal would not go ahead after Mr Robertson's comments on his popular television show in which he suggested that Mr Sharon had been made to suffer for "dividing God's land".