On June 8, 1967, during the Arab-Israeli Six Day War, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked the
Navy intelligence-gathering ship USS Liberty in international waters, 15.5 nautical miles north of the
Sinai coast in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Of the 294 on board the Liberty, 34 were killed and
172 were wounded.
Israel later claimed that the attack was a mistake. They believed they were attacking the Egyptian
horse carrier El Quseir, not an American vessel. At the time, the Liberty was among the most
sophisticated surveillance ships in the world.
A U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry was convened just days after the attack. It concluded with 52 findings of
fact that support Israel's claim of mistaken identity.
However, in October 2003, retired Navy captain Ward Boston, who was chief counsel for the 1967
Court of Inquiry, "broke decades of silence and declared that the Navy admiral who investigated the
incident [ Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, president of the Court of Inquiry] had been ordered by President
Lyndon Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to conclude it was a case of mistaken
identity, despite evidence to the contrary."
Was this incident just a tragic mistake, as Israel and the U.S. Court of Inquiry claim, or did Israel
deliberately attack the Liberty? You decide.