Editing Jacobo Timerman (section)

===''The Longest War''===
Soon after completing his prison memoir, Timerman and other journalists were taken to Lebanon to see Israel's 1982 war up close.<ref name=Curtiss/> In response, he wrote a book titled, ''The Longest War: Israel's Invasion of Lebanon'' (1982). He was deeply disturbed by the [[1982 Lebanon War]] although he had been an ardent Zionist for most of his life.<ref name=Curtiss/>

Timerman was also disappointed by Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory. He wrote: "And I'm angry, too, with us, with the Israelis who by exploiting, oppressing, and victimizing them [the Palestinians] made the Jewish people lose their moral tradition, their proper place in history."<ref name=Curtiss /> The book describes Timerman's decisions: still recovering from having been tortured in prison, he advised his son Daniel to accept a jail sentence rather than do military service in Lebanon.<ref name=Martin1982 /> Daniel was sentenced to prison.<ref name=Curtiss/>

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 in South Africa|Apartheid]].<ref name=Martin1982 /> 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."<ref name=Curtiss />

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 [[Israel Defense Forces]] and the government's foreign policy responsible.<ref>Rein & Davidi, "Exile of the World" (2010), p. 19. "After the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps just outside Beirut, he added an epilogue containing serious accusations against the Israel Defense Forces and the government's foreign policy.</ref> [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] Rabbi [[Arthur Hertzberg]] "found [Timerman's] criticism of the Israel Army exaggerated."<ref name=Curtiss />

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.<ref>Rein & Davidi, "Exile of the World" (2010), pp. 19–20. "Timerman's book met with a cool reception and even open hostility. He was among the first to raise his voice against this war and used harsh words to criticize the Israeli leadership. For many Israelis who justified the war, it was hard to digest such criticism from someone who was generally regarded as a Jewish fighter for human rights".</ref> 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 (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".<ref name="Martin1982">[[Patrick Martin (journalist)|Patrick Martin]], "A cri de coeur. A polemic more than a political book. It will definitely be attacked", ''Globe & Mail'' (Canada), 18 December 1982; accessed via Lexis Nexis Academic.</ref> In addition, his book received little coverage by the Jewish press and others in the United States.<ref name=Curtiss/>

In 1982 deputy foreign minister [[Yehuda Ben Meir]] said on the United States news program ''[[60 Minutes]]'': "We got him out of Argentina. Now he attacks and denigrates Israel. Any rational person can understand that his book is a collection of calumnies and lies arising from his own self-hatred".<ref>Rein & Davidi, "Exile of the World" (2010), p. 20</ref> Timerman was shunned by some Israelis and American Jews after his criticism.<ref name=Smith /> Later many of his obituaries in the Israeli and US press downplayed or omitted this period of his life to avoid acknowledging his criticism of Israel.<ref name=Curtiss />