Given the confluence of the recent attack on the USS Cole, the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and last weekend's celebration of Veterans' Day, I think it is appropriate to recall one of the seminal events of the Sixties that has generally been either ignored, buried or dismissed by historians of the period. I am referring to the attack on the intelligence gathering ship, the USS Liberty by the Israeli airforce during the Six-Day War in June, 1967, which is briefly described in the inner book jacket written by one of the ship's officers, James Ennes, Jr, "The Assault on the Liberty," (Random House, 1979): "In June 1967, jet aircraft and motor torpedo boats of Israel brutally assaulted an American naval vessel, the USS Liberty, in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea. The attack was preceded by more than six hours of intense low-level surveillance by Israeli photo-reconnaissance aircraft, which buzzed the intelligence ship 13 times, sometimes flying as low as 200 feet directly overhead. "The carefully orchestrated assault that followed was initiated by high-performance jet aircraft, was followed by slower and more maneuverable jets carrying napalm, and was finally turned over to lethal torpedo boats, which blasted a 40-foot hole in the ship's side. "The attack lasted more than two hours--killing 34 Americans and wounding 171 others--and inflicted 821 rocket and machine-gun holes in the ship. And when the Liberty stubbornly remained afloat despite her damage, Israeli forces machine-gunned her life rafts and sent troop-carrying helicopters in to finish the job. "At this point, with Sixth Fleet rescue aircraft finally en route, the government of Israel apologized and the attacking forces suddenly withdrew. Only then did the identity of the assailants become known. " "Details of the attack were hushed up in both countries. Israel claimed that her forces mistook the Liberty for an Egyptian ship, and our government quietly accepted that excuse despite evidence to the contrary. Then our government downplayed the intensity of the surveillance and the severity of the attack, and imposed a news blackout on the story to keep the story under control. The official version is that the Liberty was reconnoitered only three times and then only from a great distance. The American people were told that the air attack lasted only five minutes and that it was followed by a single torpedo and offer of assistance." In the foreword to the book, former Admiral Thomas Moorer, wrote that "the ship was clearly identified...by a very large US flag. The weather was calm and the visibility was excellent....[T]o this day, the American public does not know why the attack took place and who was involved overall... The US Sixth Fleet, positioned nearby, received a distress call from the USS Liberty and one carrier dispatched a squadron to go to the defense of the disabled ship. Before the aircraft reached the Liberty, they received orders from Washington directing their return to the ship. Who issued such orders? So far, no one knows. In the US all the information available to the US government indicating those who participated in controlling this operation from Washington, together with the exact orders transmitted to the Mediterranean fleet, has never been made public." That was written in 1979. The story us still under wraps. When a library named after the USS Liberty was proposed in Wisconsin some years back, its proponents were accused of being anti-Semitic. Why did Israel attack the Liberty? According to a book on Israeli intelligence, written from a pro-Israel perspective with the alleged cooperation with its intelligence services, the Israelis had learned that through the Liberty's listening devices, the US had learned that the Israelis had intercepted Egyptian radio communications to Syria and Jordan, and had resent new messages encouraging them to attack Israel. According to this theory, a US State Dept. representative reported this to an Israeli diplomat in Washington, warning him about Israel using this pretext to expand the war. Whether or not this explanation is true is of considerable importance, but it is alleged. The attack and the details are beyond dispute and are the point of my posting. Had the US military retaliated against in a comparable fashion, as it was clearly entitled to do under international law, we probably would not be facing the problems in the region that we are facing today. The US government and Pres. Lyndon Johnson literally let the Israelis get away with murder. And not just get away, but in fact, they were rewarded. Up until the Six-Day war, France had been the main supplier of weapons to Israel and US economic aid was relatively small, certainly compared with what they get today. But when De Gaulle objected to Israel's plans to go to war against Egypt, and refused to release a shipment of French-made patrol boats, and the Israelis cleverly found a way to get them anyway, France cut off all assistance, and the US took over. So instead of punishing Israel in some fashion or another, the US became a far greater benefactor to Israel than it has been before. What was the message? Israel can do anything it likes and to whom. The US will stand by and protect it. To make sure that relationship remains unchanged, the pro-Israel lobby, which was in its swaddling clothes, relatively speaking, became one of the most important players in Washington and a major donor to influential members of Congress of both parties. When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, both parties strongly supported Israel whose forced killed close to 20,000 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians, making Iraq's invasion of Kuwait (340 Kuwaitis killed) a garden party by comparison. The situation is such that while a member of Congress can stand up on the floor and criticize the policies of the US, or of some foreign country or another, to publicly challenge Israel has proved to be a career-ending decision for a number of politicians who have been so bold. The left, such as it is, has allowed this situation to exist unchallenged, accusing critics of the pro-Israel lobby of being anti-Semitic or of provoking anti-Semitism. And so today, we have Israel, on the point of transferring yet more Palestinians out of their villages, invoking collective punishment--a long-standing public policy of Israel--in its usual cruel manner, attacking villages with helicopter gunships, just resupplied by their latest White House lackey, and not a single member of Congress has stood up to criticize Israel and call for a halt to the shipment of war-fighting military equipment, which by law, is prohibited for use against civilian populations. And it all began that June day when Israel attacked the Liberty and got away with it. Jeff Blankfort
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