Why did Israel bomb and torpedo the USS Liberty?

Question

Why did Israel kill 34 american Sailors, and wound over 170? Why did the attack last nearly an hour?

Answer 1

there's been several questions on this already.

This week is its 40 anniversary.

the fact is all the facts point to a false flag attack launched by Israel. (as the articles below show)

They were jamming on US frequencies and using unmarked planes and boats -even though they were blatently Israeli.(which rules out the "fog of war mistake" excuse)

as for the motive one survivor James Ennes makes it clear that they witnessed the IDF murdering Egyptian POWs.

It seems like they were trying to illuminate witnesses. they even shot at life rafts-in some cases that contained wounded American sailors- which is a war crime in itself.

" Admiral Kidd and I were given only one week to gather evidence for the Navy's official investigation, though we both estimated that a proper Court of Inquiry would take at least six months.

We boarded the crippled ship at sea and interviewed survivors. The evidence was clear. We both believed with certainty that this attack was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew."-Searching for the Truth About the USS Liberty



There has been a definite conspiracy of silence and of obscuration on this issue . But despite this the survivors have been tirelessly campaigning for the truth about this act of treachery- in face of official cover ups and corruption.

there still seems to be few in the born-again chickenhawk camp willing to back up the victims of this cowardly attack but rather side with lies of the attackers.. then it's a case of like with like...

Answer 2

The official theory - Fog of war. Israel mistook the lettering, markings and three US flags on the ship for Arabic writing and the Egyptian flag. It also did not realize that the Liberty was twice as long as any Egyptian ship, and apparently never received a communication from the US about its mistake during the hour long attack.

Four popular alternate theories: 1. Israelis planned to bomb and sink a US ship and blame it on the Egyptians to get the US in on the war 2. The Liberty was a spy ship and the US had learned through the Liberty's eavesdropping that Israel was executing 250 Egyptian POWs in cold blood, and not the armed fighters it claimed. This would have been bad publicity for Israel in those days, 3. The Liberty learned that Israel was going to invade the Golan Heights of Syria within two days, and Israel was concerned that the US would stop them. 4. Israel was unsure of the US government's potential role in their war. (There were still a lot of anti Semites in the US government.) Bombing the Liberty was a warning to the US that it shouldn't interfere with either the war or Israel's acquisition of new territories.

Answer 3

no longer incredibly. Israel became under Arab attack on the time. they had advised the U. S. they may well be protecting their waters from any invasions, and asked the U. S. save them up as much as now on the area of any ships interior the section. The recon flight became a sparkling attempt to steer away from a wrong attack on a delightful vessel, and assured sufficient there became no attack at that factor. The attack on the liberty in basic terms befell 6 hours later, whilst the liberty had replaced place, and after a coastal city have been shelled from sea. Israel's wrestle monitoring, which did no longer have an as much as date record on the friendly deliver's place (which they had required) observed a deliver in what regarded to be attack place. by making use of its configuration and velocity, it became for sure a warship. The Israelis believed the deliver became a definite Egyptian grant vessel, with 2 distinctive commanders coming to an identical self sufficient end. The attack became ordered. for the time of the attack, the liberty opened hearth on the arrival torpedo boats in the previous understanding they have been friendly, and this additionally aided the misinterpretation of the liberty's identity. sure, it became a mistake. blunders ensue, incredibly in wartime whilst it incredibly is perplexing to discover the time to double and triple verify each and every little thing. Israel paid damages, including for the deaths and injuries. the U. S. is a approaches from harmless right here, as they might have carried out lots extra to steer away from friendly hearth. I unquestionably have stumbled on no evidence in anyway to back up your declare that the Israelis fired on the life rafts. I unquestionably have stumbled on disputed claims they strafed the sailors attempting to launch the life boats, and that they shot up the empty lifeboats whilst they have been interior the water, yet no claims are made (different than yours) that they shot human beings interior the life boats themselves.

Answer 4

The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a U.S. Navy intelligence ship, USS Liberty, in international waters about 12.5 nautical miles (23 km) from the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, north of the Egyptian town of El Arish, by Israeli fighter planes and torpedo boats on June 8, 1967.

It occurred during the Six-Day War, a conflict between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. The Israeli attack killed 34 U.S. servicemen and wounded at least 173. The attack was the second-deadliest against a U.S. warship since the end of World War II, surpassed only by the Iraqi Exocet missile attack on the USS Stark on May 17, 1987, and marked the single greatest loss of life by the U.S. intelligence community.

The Israeli and American governments conducted multiple inquiries into the incident, and issued reports concluding that the attack was the result of a mistake, caused by confusion among the Israeli attackers about the precise identity of the USS Liberty. These conclusions have been challenged, most notably by an organization of Liberty survivors as well as by some key former high-ranking U.S. officials who were in office at the time. These skeptics have included Secretary of State Dean Rusk, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of the NSA, and the senior legal counsel to the U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry into the incident. While the matter is officially closed for purposes of Israeli-American relations, it remains controversial in public discussion.

Israel's official position is that the attack was not the result of an intentional targeting of an American ship. Israeli officials say they were assured by the United States that no U.S. ships were in the area, and that its air and naval forces mistakenly identified Liberty as the Egyptian vessel El Quseir. Supporters of this position say Israel had no motive for a surprise attack on an important ally. They also note that the tense atmosphere of the Six-Day War created the possibility of such mistakes, and point out that the U.S. government, concerned about such dangers, ordered the Liberty further away from shore (although communications failures kept the order from arriving in time).[1] Finally, they note that the United States has several times mistakenly attacked its own and allied forces in so-called friendly fire incidents.

Others claim that the attack was deliberate and premeditated. They note that the Liberty was more than twice as large as the El Quseir, and was clearly designated with Latin rather than Arabic letters and numbers. Proponents include surviving Liberty crewmen,[1] and some former U.S. government officials, including then-CIA director Richard Helms and then-Secretary of State Dean Rusk as well as Admiral Thomas Hinman Moorer, former Chief of Naval Operations and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On December 17, 1987, the issue was officially closed by the two governments through an exchange of diplomatic notes. Israel also eventually paid nearly $13 million in humanitarian reparations to the United States and in compensation to the families of the victims

Answer 5

There have been six official investigations into this incident both by Israel and America and all have concluded that it was a friendly fire incident.

As I pointed out once to someone else a while ago here on Yahoo Answers! if you don't believe that, then nothing Israel or America can do would convince you otherwise.

See http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070411203758AAegy7l for my previous discussion.

Answer 6

Israel's official position is that the attack was not the result of an intentional targeting of an American ship. Israeli officials say they were assured by the United States that no U.S. ships were in the area, and that its air and naval forces mistakenly identified Liberty as the Egyptian vessel El Quseir.

Answer 7

Because the Liberty was a spy ship and they didn't want the US to develop intelligence, they disabled our ability to monitor what they were up to. So as a result of Israel going to war, they deliberately took out our ship.

Answer 8

It is true...just ask the people who were on the damn boat, and not those damn arab conspiracy theorists.

This is because they couldn't follow rules of engagement, which still exist to this day. It was a major screw up that occurs when you shoot first, take questions later.

Answer 9

Tell me more


Edit: Ok, I read what it was all about. Didn't know about that incident.....tell me what your point is? It in that guys' wiki citing that it was ruled an accident, mistaken identity......did George W. Bush do that too?

Answer 10

They didn't

I did some research on this - and can't find one "oficial source" - just speculation pieces by Arab and Liberal bloggers and questionable "News Sources".

Supposedly related to an incident the fourth day of the Six Day war in 1967.

But there was never any conclusive proof, and by some accounts, it was staged by Arab intel to discredit Israel and force US support to waiver.

These events took place prior to Israel seeking to be recognized as a nation-state by the UN