Sharon Suing Time for Libel in Israeli Court

Former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon lost his $50-million libel suit against Time Inc. in New York but will get another chance to press his case against the magazine in an Israeli court, his lawyer said Friday.

Dov Weisglass said a suit is pending in Tel Aviv district court against the magazine’s European subsidiary, which distributes Time in Israel.

Sharon lost his battle for $50 million in damages when the jury found that Time did not act with malice in reporting that Sharon had “discussed” with Lebanon’s Christian militia Falangists the need to avenge the death of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel in 1982. The next day, the Falangists slaughtered an estimated 700 Palestinians. But the New York jury ruled earlier that a paragraph in a Feb. 21, 1983, Time article was erroneous and defamatory.

Sharon could stand a better chance of winning his case before an Israeli court because Israeli law does not require him to prove that Time wrote the article with malice, a necessary finding in the United States.