I'm quite sure that the attack was no mistake. Whether it was authorized at the highest levels of the Israeli government or whether it was a rogue officer who ordered it is not clear. At the time of the attack, there were massacres going on in the refugee camps and the Israelis were holding the perimeters of the camps while various Arab factions did the killing. The Israelis obviously didn't want their radio communications being monitored about that incident and radio monitoring was one of the Liberty's missions. One of my boyhood friends was on the ship and told me the whole story of the attack as he saw it.

as fare as i know the israeli air force and navy attack USS Liberty to blame egypt of doing it and to make usa join the war and the fleet admiral asked the president for retaliation and saving USS Liberty but the president denied
and the us sailors identify the fighters as israeli and raised ( hold ) a big US flag but the attack didn't stop and israel send some ships but they don't do nothing
me if i was that fleet commander i would send my navy destroy the israeli attacking ships and fighter and don't care about the rest

Did this really happen indicates the American mindset , to me its inconceivable that an American any American is not familiar with the Liberty incident , is this not discussed in schools ? American schools at least , as far as I can determine Israel has no answer for their actions , none .

Originally Posted by Remington 1858

I'm quite sure that the attack was no mistake. Whether it was authorized at the highest levels of the Israeli government or whether it was a rogue officer who ordered it is not clear. At the time of the attack, there were massacres going on in the refugee camps and the Israelis were holding the perimeters of the camps while various Arab factions did the killing. The Israelis obviously didn't want their radio communications being monitored about that incident and radio monitoring was one of the Liberty's missions. One of my boyhood friends was on the ship and told me the whole story of the attack as he saw it.

Sure doesn't sound like a mix-up with an Egyptian ship. Sound like it was a big time cover-up. The thing is why did the US send the Liberty there in the 1st place, if it wasn't to gather intelligence? Then when they did what they were supposed to, they let the Liberty get attacked big time. The Israeli pilots reported seeing the American flag and were apparently told to ignore it. I believe one pilot was court-martialed for refusing to attack the American ship.

Originally Posted by tetvet

Did this really happen indicates the American mindset , to me its inconceivable that an American any American is not familiar with the Liberty incident , is this not discussed in schools ? American schools at least , as far as I can determine Israel has no answer for their actions , none .

Lots of history isn't covered, much less the obscure. I suspect those not "into" history aren't aware of her sister ship, USS Pueblo, being seized by the N. Koreans and that got a lot of Press at the time.

"Sure doesn't sound like a mix-up with an Egyptian ship. Sound like it was a big time cover-up. The thing is why did the US send the Liberty there in the 1st place, if it wasn't to gather intelligence? Then when they did what they were supposed to, they let the Liberty get attacked big time. The Israeli pilots reported seeing the American flag and were apparently told to ignore it. I believe one pilot was court-martialed for refusing to attack the American ship."

It should be noted that the US wasn't really allies of Israel until after the 6 Day War. Probably why they didn't want us eavesdropping on their coms. If the Incident was publisized it would have derailed any alliance with them.

When we consider the fact that Israel and the U.S. are supposedly big buddies we must also consider the Liberty , my own feeling are what do we need Israel for ? .

Originally Posted by tetvet

When we consider the fact that Israel and the U.S. are supposedly big buddies we must also consider the Liberty , my own feeling are what do we need Israel for ? .

You never needed Israel for anything but as long as they have purchased your politicians you can't rid yourselves of them either it is a rather parasitic relationship, they keep you politicians in money and your politicians keep Israel in an unquestionable occupation where they can get away with murder.

I am certainly aware that Israel and The U.S. have often had a divergence of objectives. But, it is important to remember that Israel offers a Western- oriented base right in the middle of a strategically vital area, especially now that our enemies and their enemies are one in the same.. Furthermore, the Israelis have no compunction about the use of swift, violent and illegal methods in dealing with threats, something Western politicians pee their pants about. Israel is going to be of ever increasing importance in Global War Against Terror Phase 2, ( GWOT II). You can believe that they will take every advantage of this strategic position, but we will need them to find, fix and f--- the jihadists.

There's no evidence whatsoever that this was a deliberate attack, on the contrary, all evidence shows the Israelis thought it was an Egyptian war ship.

a U.S. Navy EC-121, had collected voice conversations between two Israeli helicopter pilots and the control tower at Hazor Airfield following the attack on the Liberty. (you can find it here and here).
They were talking about an Egyption supply ship. They were also told to ask the first one they pick up what his nationality is. If the rescued person talks arabic they had to fly him to Al Arish, if he talks English they had to go to Lod. After they told the control tower that they saw an American flag they had to double check it.

Originally Posted by VDKMS

There's no evidence whatsoever that this was a deliberate attack, on the contrary, all evidence shows the Israelis thought it was an Egyptian war ship.

a U.S. Navy EC-121, had collected voice conversations between two Israeli helicopter pilots and the control tower at Hazor Airfield following the attack on the Liberty. (you can find it here and here).
They were talking about an Egyption supply ship. They were also told to ask the first one they pick up what his nationality is. If the rescued person talks arabic they had to fly him to Al Arish, if he talks English they had to go to Lod. After they told the control tower that they saw an American flag they had to double check it.

USS Liberty 455 ft in length, 10K tons
El Qaiser 275FT in Length 2750 tons.

So the Israeli excuse is that they confused the Liberty with a ship half as small and 1/5 the displacement? How about the fact that Liberty waterline profile looks absolutely nothing like EL QAISER? Supply ships don't have huge Radar Antenna protruding out amidship. Or the fact the pilots claimed neither to see the big "5" written in English (not Arabic) nor the United States Flag flying from its mast. For the sake of argument, you might expect that the Israels being dimwitted enough to make all these mistakes simultaneously but it doesn't explain the torpedo-boat attack that came 25 minutes later. They were in visual range making a torpedo run and still couldn't properly identify the target?

I don't believe in coincidences and if Israelis were that incompetent then its really a mystery why they have lasted this long.