WASHINGTON, November 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A popular U.S. televangelist’s accusation that Muslims are “worse than the Nazis” and call for Jews to wake up to the threat drew fire on Tuesday, November 12, from a leading American-Islamic group which warned the comments could spark violence.

In his remarks, Christian preacher and conservative commentator Pat Robertson also denounced Middle East peace efforts as “an absolute illusion” and accused a senior U.S. diplomat of harboring anti-Israel views.

The one-time presidential hopeful, who has been highly critical of Islam in the past, claimed Muslims were bent on exterminating Jews, citing select passages out of context from the Qur’an that liken Jews to apes and pigs, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

“Somehow I wish the Jews in America would wake up, open their eyes and read what is being said about them,” Robertson told viewers of his Christian Broadcasting Network news program late Monday, November 11.

“This is worse than the Nazis,” he said. “Adolf Hitler was bad, but what the Muslims want to do to the Jews is worse.”

Robertson, whose previous anti-Islam comments have been denounced by Jewish and Muslims groups alike, said those who criticized him - whom he termed “so-called doves” - did not understand the situation.

“If I say something that Islam is, you know, an erroneous religion, then I get criticized by the Anti-Defamation League,” he said, referring to the prominent U.S.-based Jewish advocacy group.

“You just want to say: ‘When are you going to open your eyes and see who your enemy is.’ Those people want to destroy Jews,” Robertson said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday denounced Robertson’s remarks as “lies, distortions and outright bigotry.”

“It’s a shame coming from someone who claims to be a man of the cloth,” said Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for the group.

“He is doing a lot more to increase tensions and maybe violence among different ethnicities and religions than sowing the seeds of peace,” she said, maintaining that Robertson was using two passages from the Qu’ran deceitfully.

“It's outlandish and a total distortion,” Hassan said, noting that the Qur’an contains numerous calls for inter-faith harmony and demands respect for other religions.

Because Christian Broadcasting Network programming is broadcast in more than 180 countries around the world, she said the U.S. State Department should for “consistency’s sake” voice concern about Robertson’s latest remarks.

Last week, the State Department said it had expressed reservations to Egyptian authorities about a television series airing there that draws on the infamous tract “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

“Our community is also hurt by hate speech,” Hassan said.

Robertson’s comments were just the latest in a string of anti-Islamic remarks from prominent U.S. conservative Christians in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Earlier the hate speech of Baptist minister Jerry Falwell, who in a television interview last month called the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) “a terrorist,” resulted in the death of 8 people in India.

His comments sparked international outrage and deadly riots in the Indian city of Bombay. Falwell later apologized.

Franklin Graham, son of the noted preacher Billy Graham, has also been accused of making defamatory statements about Islam.

Robertson, however, went beyond criticizing Islam in the Monday broadcast, suggesting that alleged Muslim duplicity undermined the entire foundation of land-for-peace basis of efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The idea that you’re going to make peace with the Muslim world by giving them territory is an absolute illusion,” he said.

Muslim beliefs about Jews are “not exactly conducive to peace and comity and brotherhood,” he added.

Earlier in the program, Robertson took aim at U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Satterfield, who has just begun a five-day mission to the region, accusing him of sacrificing Israel’s interests for those of Arab nations.

“The thing that worries me is this David Satterfield,” he said. “He is from all indications very much pro-Arab, anti-Israel. He has said and acted in the past (in a way to) lead one to believe that he is not in favor of what the Jews want to do.”

Robertson did not provide evidence of the allegations but said that Satterfield was responsible for holding up legislation that would have punished Syria for harboring terrorists.

“I must say I am not a great fan of the State Department and he is another one that I am not a fan of,” Robertson said.