USS Liberty incident

The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats, on 8 June 1967 which killed 34 crew members, wounded 171 crew members, and severely damaged the ship. Israeli and U.S. governments issued reports that concluded the attack was a mistake, but survivors of the attack have maintained that the attack was deliberate.

The damaged USS Liberty on 8 June 1967

Quotes

• I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. Their sustained attack to disable and sink Liberty precluded an assault by accident or some trigger-happy local commander. Through diplomatic channels we refused to accept their explanations. I didn't believe them then, and I don't believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous.
  • Dean Rusk, who was United States Secretary of State during the attack, in his memoirs As I Saw It (1990)

• The Court produced evidence that the Israeli armed forces had ample opportunity to identify LIBERTY correctly. The Court had insufficient information before it to make a judgment on the reasons for the decision by Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats to attack ... It was not the responsibility of the Court to rule on the culpability of the attackers, and no evidence was heard from the attacking nation.
  • US Defense Department's June 28, 1967, News Release concerning the Naval Court of Inquiry into the attack.