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Rep. Thomas Massie has called for an investigation into what happened to the USS Liberty, which Israel mistakenly targeted in 1967. Photo by Massie by John Cherry\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSenior Columnist The first tragedy of the U.S.S. Liberty attack is that it happened at all. The second is that Israel\u2019s critics have weaponized it to spread hate.<\/p>\n When Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky stood on the House floor on June 8, the 59th anniversary of the attack, and called for a Congressional probe into the incident, he wasn\u2019t seriously trying to bring the truth of some long-buried historical secret to light. Massie, who in 14 years never once brought up the U.S.S. Liberty on the House floor, was using the latest cudgel in the Israel-haters\u2019 arsenal to level one last official blow at a country he loathes.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got a call to action for everybody here,\u201d said Massie<\/a>, speaking of attack survivors who were in the audience, \u201cHonor these individuals. Quit ignoring that they exist. Let\u2019s have an investigation.\u00a0 It\u2019s long overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n Let\u2019s put aside the fact that there have been numerous official investigations into what exactly happened on June 8, 1967, the second day of the Six Day War, when Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked the Liberty off the Sinai Peninsula, killing 34 American service members.<\/p>\n These investigations concluded that the tragedy was a friendly-fire incident. The Israelis initially mistook the Liberty, an intelligence-gathering vessel, for an Egyptian warship. After the smoke cleared, they accepted responsibility, apologized and paid $12 million in compensation to the victims.<\/p>\n Of all the explanations, it\u2019s perhaps the least satisfying but the most logical. During the Vietnam War, happening at the same time, an estimated 11% to 15% of casualties<\/a> were from friendly fire.<\/p>\n Massie\u2019s call for a new investigation would be more believable if he then didn\u2019t go on to recite the alternative one-sided narrative of the incident long pushed by some survivors and now taken up with gusto by Israel haters Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and others.<\/p>\n To them the attack was deliberate: The Israelis ignored the large American flag the Liberty was flying and began shooting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was intentional murder by the country of Israel,\u201d said Massie on the House floor, \u201ceither as a false flag operation or because they simply didn\u2019t want anybody observing what they were doing that day.\u201d<\/p>\n What Massie and his fellow conspiracy theorists are alleging is a crime, but none of them has sufficiently proven a motive. Why would Israel attack the ship of its most important and powerful ally?<\/p>\n The false flag theory \u2014 the idea that Israel wanted to sink the Liberty, blame Egypt or the Soviet Union for it and draw America into the war \u2014 makes no sense.<\/p>\n The war was all but won by June 8. Moreover, as the historian and former Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren relates in Six Days of War<\/a>, the Israelis actually stopped firing initially when they suspected the ship was American.<\/p>\n The Israelis sent helicopters to investigate, but heavy smoke obscured the ship. Meanwhile, as Israeli torpedo boats closed in, a U.S. Navy crewman, perhaps not hearing his commander\u2019s orders, opened fire.<\/p>\n The Israelis, now convinced it was an enemy ship, unleashed torpedoes, killing 25 Americans.<\/p>\n Massie left all this out of his narrative. He quoted then-Secretary of State Dean Rusk, who said at the time, \u201cthe attack was, quite literally incomprehensible,\u201d implying that a murky conspiracy underlay it all.<\/p>\n But he didn\u2019t include the rest of what Rusk said: That what happened was \u201can act of military recklessness reflecting wanton disregard for human life.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, Rusk\u2019s full quote doesn\u2019t suggest intention, but gross carelessness, which is a far cry from premeditated murder. It was chaos, miscommunication, uncertainty, incompetence, fear \u2014 the fog of war.<\/p>\n But to Massie and others, there\u2019s no need to establish a coherent motive for why Israel attacked its harmless friends, because in their minds that\u2019s just who Israelis are.<\/p>\n If Massie wants another investigation, fine. But I find it hard to believe that any investigation that doesn\u2019t find Israel guilty of murder in the first will ever satisfy him or the people for whom \u201cRemember the Liberty\u201d is shorthand for \u201cIsrael is evil.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. Discover more perspectives in Opinion<\/a>. To contact Opinion authors, email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hello, fellow Forward reader! I\u2019m Joel Brown, a Forward reader and supporter for more than 15 years, and currently the chair of the board of directors.<\/p>\n I\u2019m an avid Forward reader because it ticks so many of my essential boxes: excellent journalism, Jewish focus and diverse viewpoints. In today\u2019s political climate, what I most appreciate is the Forward\u2019s independence \u2014 made possible by the generosity of its membership.<\/p>\n The Forward is committed to bringing you unbiased, nuanced Jewish news. From my position as board chair, I see an exciting future as we expand our position as the definitive independent voice of contemporary American Judaism.<\/p>\n Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRob Eshman<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 10, 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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