TIME VS. SHARON: A QUESTION OF INTENT

Blood Libel: The Inside Story of General Ariel Sharon`s History-Making Suit Against Time Magazine

By Uri Dan

Simon & Schuster, 270 pages, $18.95

If I were a writer, this is the account I would have given of one of the greatest struggles of my career,” declares former Israeli Defense Minister Gen. Ariel Sharon on the jacket of this book. The statement imparts historical importance to what otherwise is polemicism–an inflamed diatribe by Sharon`s former press adviser Uri Dan against all forces that would attack his general, be they Arab enemies, rival Israeli politicians and generals, American diplomats or Time magazine.

Now, diatribes can make good reading, and this one does. There is no evidence that Sharon played an active part in the massacre of 460 Palestinians and Lebanese by Christian Phalangists at the refugee camps of Sabra and Shantilla in 1982. Yet without having proof, Time magazine ran a story saying that Sharon had encouraged the slaughter as revenge for the murder of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel.

The explanation behind the camp atrocity is plainly damnable, Dan writes: ”Israeli intelligence is generally regarded as one of the best in the world, but regretfully in this instance it went dramatically wrong. No early intelligence report even hinting at a massacre had been shown to Sharon or

(former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem) Begin.”

Moreover, Dan says he was present–”sitting slightly to the right and behind Sharon”–at the very meeting at which Time said Sharon had told the Gemayel family of the need for revenge. Dan knew that Time reported something that never happened.

Sharon lost his job after an Israeli tribunal ruled him ”indirectly”

responsible because he should have foreseen the tragedy. Then came the Time story that accused Sharon of premeditated mass murder, the latest example, Sharon believed, of unfair attacks by the magazine that stretched back to the 1950s. Sharon felt that he had no choice but to raise funds by selling his house and taking the powerful magazine to court in its hometown.

Whereupon the general discovered he was in danger of hanging slowly in the wind. Along with the inside look at the vagaries of Time`s editing system, Dan presents the ugliness of big-league legal maneuverings and the labyrinthian viciousness of internecine Israeli politics. Even Sharon`s own Likud Party wouldn`t help him vindicate himself.

But, as the book shows, the tough old general finally seized control of his case, plotted strategy, testified in his own behalf, fought against a settlement, bossed his lawyers and directed his campaign.

Justice nonetheless hinged on the gutsy federal judge, Abraham D. Sofaer, who convinced the Israeli government to produce the documents that proved Time was wrong. Sofaer took it upon himself to conduct much crucial cross-examination, including that of David Halevy, Time`s Jerusalem correspondent who had filed the Sharon story in a gossipy memo, then gave thumbs-up when his editors ran with their ”scoop.” Halevy finally admitted on the stand that he had no source. He had instead determined the ”truth”

because he had lived in Israel for 43 years.

Time`s story was false and defamed Sharon, yet the magazine had no malicious intent, the jury ruled, thus giving half a loaf to everybody. The general lost his case yet made his point, while Time won the suit but in the minds of many lost much more.

Originally Published: April 15, 1987 at 1:00 AM CDT