Al Jazeera: 'Israel knowingly attacked US military ship'

Israel knowingly attacked US military ship in 1967 – Al Jazeera investigation

October 30th, Doha - In 1967, at the height of the Arab / Israeli Six Day War, the Israeli Air Force attacked the USS Liberty, a US Navy spy ship that was monitoring the conflict from the safety of international waters in the Mediterranean. Israeli jet fighters twice identified the ship as American before hitting the vessel with rockets, cannon-fire and napalm, before three Israeli torpedo boats moved in to launch a second more devastating attack.

Though she didn’t sink, the Liberty was badly damaged. Thirty four US servicemen and civilian analysts were killed, another 171 were wounded. Later Israel apologized for what it claimed to be a tragic case of mistaken identity. It said that it had believed the ship to be hostile Egyptian naval vessel. US President Lyndon Johnson was privately furious but publicly the White House chose not to challenge the word of its closest Middle East ally and accepted that the attack had been a catastrophic accident.

However, as this exclusive Al Jazeera investigation will reveal, fresh evidence throws new light on exactly what happened that fateful day and the cover up that followed:

• Exclusive: Audio tapes from Israeli jets, proved Israel identified the USS Liberty as American before its forces attacked the ship in 1967.
• Exclusive: first reveal of the network of pro-Israel agents inside the Lyndon Johnson administration – identified in declassified Israeli documents by codenames – who fed secret information back to Jerusalem and worked to sway the president to cover up the attack on the Liberty
• Sole dissenting voice in the Israeli camp, documents show, was the Ambassador to US, Avraham Harman, who sent a secret cable noting the audio tapes existence, and saying those responsible should be put on trial
• Several of America’s most senior intelligence and State Department officials were convinced Israel intentionally targeted an American ship. Despite those convictions, the US Government, aware of the tapes, and receiving Russian made weapons haul from Israel, deliberately covered up the extent of the attack, and released inaccurate, watered-down reports that exonerated Israel of blame
• A media blackout on the ship and the families was issued, and a team of 300 Maltese workers worked 6 weeks to repair the ship and hide the damage before it arrived back in the US.
•
The Day Israel Attacked America will broadcast at 2000GMT on Thursday 30thOctober on Al Jazeera English, and for US audiences 31 October, 10pm EST on Al Jazeera America.

[END]

© Scoop Media