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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Remembering when Israel attacked the US
2021-06-08
A tendentious title... We discussed the subject at length back in 2003, when it was pointed out that in war mistakes happen in which people die unfairly, and America has made some of them.
Today back in 1967: During the six-day Middle East war, 34 American servicemen were killed when Israel attacked the USS Liberty, a Navy intelligence-gathering ship in the Mediterranean Sea. (Israel later said the Liberty had been mistaken for an Egyptian vessel.)
The USS Liberty was an electronic intelligence-gathering ship that was cruising international waters off the Egyptian coast on June 8, 1967. Israeli planes and torpedo boats opened fire on the Liberty at what became known as the outbreak of the Israeli-Egyptian Six-Day War. In addition to the 34 Americans killed, more than 170 were wounded. Calls to the Navy seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Israel has long maintained that the attack was a case of mistaken identity, an explanation that the Johnson administration did not formally challenge. Israel claimed its forces thought the ship was an Egyptian vessel and apologized to the United States.
From the Jerusalem Post on the subject in 2011:
The pilots of the four jets that attacked the Liberty remained anonymous for decades. One died in 1979 in an aviation accident, and in 2003, one of them agreed to give this reporter an exclusive interview of his impressions from that fateful day.

He is Yitfach Spector, a famous Israeli pilot who went on to become a triple ace, shooting down 15 enemy aircraft, and taking part in the infamous 1981 raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor. He was finally dismissed from the Air Force in 2003 for signing a letter with other pilots protesting the policy of targeted killings of Palestinian terrorists.

Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Spector says in that interview that the Americans aboard the Liberty were “lucky” he wasn’t carrying any iron bombs otherwise he would have sunk the ship.

“There was a mistake. Mistakes happen. As far as I know, the mistake was of the USS Liberty being there in the first place,” says Spector, who at the time was deputy squadron commander of the 101st and used the code name “Kursa” during the attack.

"I was told on the radio that it was an Egyptian ship off the Gaza coast. Hit it. The luck of the ship was that I was armed only with light ammunition against aircraft. If I had had a bomb it would be sitting on the bottom today like the Titanic. I promise you," Spector says.

Cristol and Spector remain baffled about the persistence of the conspiracy theories that assert that Israel deliberately attacked the ship. Some theories suggest Israel hit the ship because it picked up communications that Israel was about to invade Syria, or was massacred prisoners of war. Cristol suggests it had to do with anti-Israel sentiments.

“There are people who are anti-Israel or who are on the other side of the Arab-Israeli conflict and because the United States-Israel relationship is so strong and so good they find very few ways to attack it. This is one of the focal points on which they like to aim when they are attempting to attack and destroy that relationship,” Cristol says.
Related:
USS Liberty: 2008-07-25 Activists to test Gaza naval blockade
USS Liberty: 2003-10-27 Jeff Jacoby: Palestinian terrorism, American blood (Opinion)
USS Liberty: 2003-10-23 Cover-Up Alleged in Probe of USS Liberty
Posted by:NN2N1

#7  we attack israel all the time by proxy and highly advanced enabling by protecting the trash that funds them eu imf woke ewoks in washington when do we declare victory?
Posted by: Sluse Grealet9429   2021-06-08 17:06  

#6  Ironically, its sister ship was the Pueblo which sits in a North Korean port. It took two 'incidents' before they moved intel collecting to an conventionally armed combat ship.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2021-06-08 16:36  

#5  'But Sir, It’s an American Ship.' 'Never Mind, Hit Her!' When Israel Attacked USS Liberty

Israeli pilot to IDF war room: This is an American ship. Do you still want us to attack?

IDF war room to Israeli pilot: Yes, follow orders.

Israeli pilot to IDF war room: But sir, it’s an American ship - I can see the flag!

IDF war room to Israeli pilot: Never mind; hit it.

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/but-sir-its-an-american-ship-never-mind-hit-her-1.5492908
Posted by: Jiggs Trotsky5854   2021-06-08 16:13  

#4  https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/israel-attacks-uss-liberty
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2021-06-08 16:07  

#3  It wasn't mistaken identity. The US ship was broadcasting correctly and had Old Glory flying from the stern. It's just that it was an intelligence snooper and Israel had some very dirty deeds to do to the Arabs and didn't want anyone watching.
Posted by: Jiggs Trotsky5854   2021-06-08 13:46  

#2  The name of the ship is so ripe for metaphors.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2021-06-08 11:59  

#1  ...My father liked to point out that the truly successful conspiracies in history can likely be counted on the fingers of one hand. What happened to Liberty was a horrifying mistake, but a mistake nevertheless.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2021-06-08 11:23  

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