Ariel Sharon, the controversial former Defense Minister, has reached an out-of-court settlement in his libel suit against Time magazine, in a Tel Aviv district court. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed but according to Israel Radio it is a very considerable sum, far in excess of the legal expenses incurred by the Likud Minister.
Sharon, who is Minister of Commerce and Industry in the Labor-Likud unity coalition government, said in a radio interview that he was satisfied with the outcome of his three-year legal battle with Time. He said he regarded the settlement “as a victory for truth and freedom of expression for the press.”
Sharon sued the American weekly for libel in connection with an article published on February 21, 1983. Time alleged that as Israeli Defense Minister during the Lebanon War, Sharon had privately urged the family of assassinated Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel to take revenge, leading to the massacre of Palestinian civilians in the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps in Israel-occupied west Beirut in September, 1982, by a Christian Phalangist militia.
The article also claimed that a secret addendum-known as Appendix B–to the report of the Kahan Commission, which investigated the massacre, held Sharon directly responsible. The Kahan Commission, in its published report, held Sharon to have been indirectly responsible and urged then Premier Menachem Begin to dismiss him. Sharon subsequently resigned as Defense Minister.
He filed a $50 million libel suit against Time in the U.S. A Federal Court jury in New York decided that the Time article had been defamatory and untruthful. But the judge dismissed Sharon’s charge of libel and he did not collect damages from Time. Under American law, libel can be established only if there is proof of malice on the part of the media. Time nevertheless apologized for its article.
Although vindicated in the American court, Sharon pursued his libel case in Israel, demanding damages equivalent to $250,000. The proceedings were expedited when Sharon’s attorney, Dov Weissblat, and Time’s attorney, Shmuel Barzel, agreed that the findings of the New York jury could be admitted as evidence in the case. This obviated the need to repeat the entire case from scratch. There is no malice clause in Israeli libel law.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
