editorial
Libel trial leads to
question of fairness
Although both sides claimed victory, the Sharon vs. Time
libel trial was hardly a victory for the due process of law.
The trial itself was based upon a paragraph which appeared
in a Time cover story on Feb. 21, 1983.
The paragraph in question stated that former Israeli
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon had “reportedly discussed
with the Gemayels the need for the Phalangists to take
revenge for the assassination of Bashir, but the details of the
conversation are no* known.” The paragragh was a
reference to the Gemayel family, the head of the Lebanese
Christian militia known as the Phalangists. whose leader,
Bashir Gemayel, had been assassinated the day before
Sharon met with his family. It was tire Christian Phalange
who carried out the infamous 1982 massacre of unarmed
Palestinians in the refugee camps of Shatila and Sabra.
claiming revenge for tire assassination of Bashir Gemayel.
The Time story directly linked Sharon with plans by the
Phalangists to carry out the massacre. To Sharon, it was not
just a Ire that Time printed, it was a blood libel against the
nation of Israel .
Although the jury ruled in favor of Sharon on two ac
counts (that Time had defamed his reputation by printing a
false statement), it ruled in its final verdict that Time had not
“consciously intended” to defame Sharon. Thus, both
Sharon and Time were able to claim victory at the end of the
trial.
But while much erf the national media criticized Time
for printing a statement they could not substantiate in court,
few acknowledged that events during tire trial went against
Time from the beginning. For one. Time had no access to
any erf the Israeli witnesses that it considered key to its
defense. Specifically, tire Israeli government denied permis
sion to any of its top-ranking military and intelligence of
ficers to testify. Also, a number erf documents (other than the
one known as Appendix B) that were in the hands of the
Israeli government and which Tune felt were of great impor
tance to its defense were forbidden to he used as evidence by
the Israeli government.
This is not to say that Time was right in the article it
printed. Time was certainly wrong for printing inaccurate
and false statements in its story. It was poor journalism by
any standards, and Time’s refusal to admit this could hardly
be seen as anything other than arrogance. But the fact that
Time was never able to call to the stand key Israeli witnesses
it felt were essential to its defense leads to the question of
whether the magazine was given fair treatment. Had Time
been able to summon the witnesses to the stand that it
wanted, the results of the trial could have been very dif
ferent. In a very real sense, the trial was in Sharon’s favor
from the start. With this in mind, it’s hard to rule out that
Sharon used the trial to clean up a tarnished personal image
and propel him bade into Israel’s political spotlight.
Editors note: An error in the Emerald’s production pro
cess resulted in a misstatement in Tuesday’s editorial. In
criticizing the New York subway shootings by Bernhard
Goetz and those who praised the incident as a form of
*‘citizen justice,” a sentence read: It would be far more pro
ductive to advocate that everyone pack an illegal handgun
and shoot the first sucker that messes with them, which is
what Goetz did. The sentence should have read: It would be
far more productive to advocate that citizens support and
help one another in the face of street crime, rather than ad
vocate that everyone pack an illegal handgun and shoot the
first sucker that messes with them, which is what Goetz did.
'THEK.NOW-l'M AU SET TO BECOME PRIME MINISTER.'
tm
letters
Hunger
I come seasonally
like the winter
I am invisible
People notice me only when
1 am with them
I am respected
and respectable
I am unadmired
and unadmirabie
I am unwanted by everyone
But whenever I visit,
1 am received
I am the director
of food stores
I am the instructor
of dish-washing
I am the harbinger of death
1 faring deads
to a peopled kingdom
I heat children in the presence
erf their parents
1 force a man to take
his neighbor's belongings
I make a president to
have a break
voooommmm like the
nuclear missiles
1 send materials to
a troubled stomach
I am hunger
The cause erf every endeavor
icated to
hunger victims of Ethiopia
the U.N. Food
Agriculture Organization
Victor Onyeador
Eugene
Nightmare
The police entered my home
at 9:30 p.m. Aug. 31 to remove
my child, Autumn, age 6. She
refused to go. After a brief but
intense chase, she wilted in the
aimer while I helplessly watch
ed. . .custodial interference, ya
know.
Arbitrarily, the mother decid
ed her children could no longer
visit their father 3-4 days per
week. She demanded absolute
power over all her children
...women's version of rape.
She would not listen to their
wishes or reason.
Autumn faced 11 squad cars
and 18 police over a two day
nightmare. They finally got her
on the third try. I have had no
contact for five months.
.. .ah.. .restraining orders.
The final decree mysteriously
omitted any reference to the
children’s rights to see their
father, visitation. "You have no
rights” says the mother, the
police, the court. Why?
With Modification of Decree
pending, I have subpoenaed the
judge who signed that final
decree to explain. Equal rights
four blacks, women, et. al. is/are
alive. But what about children’s
rights?
I choose to give care. But that
is not enough in the eyes of the
law. I also must pay. I have been
sentenced to a year, $200 per
month, or bingo, jail. 1 still
don’t get to see them. Why?
I have written to senators,
governors, the president, and
even Dear Abby. It is out of their
jurisdiction. Simply a matter for
the courts. If you have a
message for the courts, please
contact me now. Do not wait! I
will deliver it Feb. 1, my day in
court. 503-344-9184, Help.
Donald Anderson
Eugene
All for it
So the Women's Task Force is
looking for volunteers. Well,
I’m all for it. After all, our Presi
dent is encouraging all of us to
pull together for the betterment
of the nation by being
volunteers.
And you couldn't ask for a
better cause. It is time that h11
Americans pull together to
bring women out of the bondage
that has held them out of good
jobs, cheated them of equal pay,
and denied them the right to
assert themselves, all on thy
basis of gender. And now we
have an opportunity to right
these wrongs.
In fact, I thought this was
such a worthy cause that I
volunteered months ago to work
on the organizing committee.
Everyone at the first meeting
agreed I could have meaningful
input, that I was a positive force
in the fight for equality of op
portunity for the sexes. But 1
made one fatal error that caused
the members of the Task Force
to deny roe a chance to be a
leader in the equality move
ment. This error was so dread
ful l was asked to leave the
meeting by Julie Davis and was
never contacted again by that
august assembly. I was bom
male.
Ronald Harper
Marketing
Irritating
Attention students. We need
to organize immediately in
defense of the unborn plastic
dolls. As you may have noticed
during the pro-choice march on
Jan. 22. these helpless victims
are being selfishly slaughtered
by a human robot from
Maranatha Ministries — the
Grim Reaper himself. If you
spot someone wearing make
up, draped in black polyester,
and brandishing a deadly card
board blade, wrap both arms
around your Cabbage Patch kid
and run!
If you were able to ignore the
lurid presence of the Reaper and
his tasteless display of impaled
dolls, perhaps you noticed the
pro-choice marchers. If the
Reaper led you to believe that
the marchers were an assort
ment of murderous fanatics,
consider this: those of us sup
porting choice are also " pro
life.'' I simply feel more con
cerned about the lives and well
being of women than I do about
the potential lives of three
month-old egg sacs (abortion is
legal only during the first three
months of pregnancy). As a
male who will never be faced
with the possibility of pregnan
cy, the Grim Reaper is being
fundamentally hypocritical,
and 1 find the tactics he uses to
communicate his views ex
tremely immature and
Irritating.
Jennie Bricker
pro-choice
,3JV,1085