A district court here, opening the Israeli edition of Ariel Sharon’s libel suit against Time magazine, has accepted the finding of a federal court jury in New York last February that the magazine defamed the former Defense Minister and falsely reported that he had discussed taking revenge on innocent civilians in Lebanon.
Judge Eliahu Vinogradov issued an interim order last Thursday awarding Sharon three million Shekels ($2,000 at the present rate of exchange) for trial costs. The court must decide at future hearings whether Time magazine’s defamation had also constituted libel, for which Sharon is claiming 10 million Shekels, to be paid at the February 1982 rate (the date of the article in question) which then amounted to $250 million.
Sharon lost his case in New York (in which he had sought damages of $50 million) because he failed to prove that Time magazine had acted with malice. The Israeli law on libel differs from that in the United States. In Israel, the libel law does not require proof of malice, and Sharon’s lawyers are confident that he would win in Israel the case he lost in New York.
But the magazine’s Israeli attorney, Israel Leshem, said the magazine may seek a precedent-setting decision redefining Israel’s libel law that would force Sharon to prove in the Israeli court malice as required in American law.
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