Described by some critics as “ a polemic ” and “ unabashedly pro-Palestinian ” , the book identifies Israel as the aggressor in the 1982 conflict . Timerman compared Israel 's treatment of Palestinians to South Africa 's treatment of Blacks under Apartheid . He also criticized the U.S. policy in the Mideast : " History will not forgive the United States for not having taken a hand in the conflict long before 1973 , as would have been proper for the leading power at the time . " Timerman included an epilogue about the Sabra and Shatila massacre , a mass slaughter of Palestinians in Lebanon refugee camps that occurred in September 1982 . He held the Israeli Defense Forces and the government 's foreign policy responsible . Conservative Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg " found Timerman 's criticism of the Israel Army exaggerated . " Timerman was one of the earliest and most outspoken Israeli critics of the war , and his status as a Zionist human rights advocate made his opinion difficult to discount . But his position was not popular among Israelis , who justified the war to themselves . " Jacobo Timerman is asking for trouble " , wrote Canadian journalist Patrick Martin , then the Middle East correspondent for '' The Globe and Mail . '' " He has been in Israel for less than three years and has written a book which attempts to purge the Jewish state of its hatred for Palestinians . ” In addition , his book received little coverage by the Jewish press and others in the United States
Sabra and Shatila massacre
Sabra and Shatila massacre
Jacobo Timerman