For those who do not know about the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty here is a link.

Has Israel ever apologized to the US for their unprovoked attack on the USS Liberty? An attack clearly intended to sink an un-armed American ship in international waters. Why have both governments gone to such lengths to cover up the incident? What reason could Israel possibly have for attacking a ship clearly flying the colors of Israel's biggest and most supportive ally?

Sherman, you are the only Israeli I know on this forum, what, if anything, does Israel teach it's students about this incident? Never once was it discussed in any of my history classes all through high school.

Did this really happen...never heard of it before..

the source of the story "lewdrockwell" is very suspicious.

They are a left wing group with too much hate for Israel and the US.

I wouldn't quote them though!

The author is well known for his extremistic views: He called the US "the new Saddam" (http://www.torontosun.com/News/Colum...4/1201356.html), and Bush "another Custer" (http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Column...01/565043.html). I suggest you to start researching a bit, and you'll find out some interesting stories about this historical episode:

On the fourth day of the Six Day War (8 Jun 1967), at about 2 PM Sinai time (then, GMT+2), Israeli defense forces attacked the USS Liberty about 14 miles off the coast of the Sinai peninsula, near El Arish.

After ten official US investigations (including five congressional investigations), there was never any evidence that the attack was made with knowledge that the target was a US ship. There is substantial evidence the attack was a tragic mistake caused by blunders of both the US and Israel. Eight US presidents, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush (41), Clinton, and Bush (43), have each accepted the conclusion that the attack was a tragic case of mistaken identity.

Nevertheless, conspiracy theorists continue to claim the Israelis knowingly attacked a US ship. By some estimates, there are more conspiracy theories about the Liberty incident than about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

You will love me for this: http://www.thelibertyincident.com/

Enjoy 8)

Many cases of Blue on Blue have happened since the world war II.

Americans attacked British during Desert Storm.
Americans attacked Canadians in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan
British sank Canadian Ship Athabaskan in D-Day (1944)
Israelis attacked USS Liberty

The incidents are numerous!

The source is a little radical, but the incident actually happened and there was a pretty big cover up.

I watched a 2 hour special on the history channel on this event. One sailor who was speaking in the dark and had his voice altered said the Israeli fighters were raking the decks with machine gun fire even as a large US flag flew from the ship.

I cannot remember anything else about the show.

Nevermind the author of the link I chose to provide, I chose it because it was rather deailed but wasn't too lengthy.

And yes, friendly fire incidents do happen, but usually once it is known that the attackers are not attacking an enemy but rather an ally/neutral the attackers cease fire and attempt to aid the people they attacked, not send repeated attacks meant to destroy the friendly/neutral target. The Israeli pilots knew they were firing at an American ship, twice they shot up the American flag, even after the crew put up a "holiday flag" I believe it is called, basically an over-sized flag, and again they shot it up. In order to shoot the flag the pilots had to be looking down their gunsights and looking right at the target. Twice Israel tried to board the ship from helicopters, gunboats and torpedo boats repeatedly attacked the ship. The Israeli's knew that they were attacking an American ship. The only reason I have ever heard Israel give for their attack was that they thought they were attacking an Egyptian ship shelling Israeli forces in Sinai.



Which is the American flag and which is the Egyptian flag? They are not that much alike

USS Liberty before attack:


USS Liberty after attack:


Another link here. It also contains links to several more sites with information on the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. And yes, this was an actual event that happened and yes, there were cover-ups by Israeli and American government officials to try and ignore this event.

Originally Posted by phoenix_aim54

Many cases of Blue on Blue have happened since the world war II.

Americans attacked British during Desert Storm.
Americans attacked Canadians in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan
British sank Canadian Ship Athabaskan in D-Day (1944)
Israelis attacked USS Liberty

The incidents are numerous!

Other than the liberty, the other incidents occured in a time of major conflict. IN major wars, there are a lot of "friendly" fire. When a ship is by itself in international waters with no naval combat going on and gets attacked, you have to wonder a little bit.

I believe this was not the intention of Israelis to damage an allies' ship and they didn't do it on purpose.

Originally Posted by phoenix_aim54

I believe this was not the intention of Israelis to damage an allies' ship and they didn't do it on purpose.

If you really look into the attack on Liberty thats the crux. Liberty was flying the Jack and Ensign at the time. She was engaged at low level by aircraft and at close range by small craft.

Liberty made no attempt to conceal her identity as a US Naval vessel. I tend to believe the theory that Israel did not want her listening in on the operations.