The USS Liberty: Key Points to Know
Learn about Israel's 1967 treacherous attack on America
While I had planned to discuss the USS Liberty sometime in 2025, the Candace Owens interview with one of the survivors in early December prompted me to push it to the front of the queue, and by the end of January I had covered two books and three documentaries across both Palestine Bookshelf and my main channels.
This short article proposes to give a brief summary of what happened, should you not have the time to delve into said books and documentaries.
Who
Israeli military forces, on orders, specifically its air force and navy, acting in concert with information gleaned by their intelligence services, and with elements of US intelligence, later, elements of the US military and civilian leadership, including the US Secretary of Defense and President.
Learn more about the mission of the USS Liberty and what happened to it, minute-by-minute, in James Scott’s Attack on the Liberty.
What
The attack on the Liberty was part of Operation Cyanide, a false flag operation intended to provide a casus belli for the US to enter into war on the side of the Israelis, as the sinking of the Liberty, with all hands lost, would be conveniently blamed on Egypt, and no one would be in a position to dispute it. This operation was foiled by the bravery of the crew of the Liberty.
The attack killed 34 Americans and wounded 174. All the survivors suffer from PTSD and have been disgracefully treated by their government.
Zero Israelis were killed or wounded.
Watch Israeli Rafi Eitan ask to end the interview (48:17) when he is asked about Operation Cyanide in the BBC’s 2002 documentary USS Liberty: Dead in the Water. Film club discussion available here.
Why
The Egyptians had generally avoided provocation during this time period and elements within US and Israeli intelligence, completely committed to Zionism and its perverse aims, needed an incident, so they created one themselves, along the lines of those envisioned in Operation Northwoods as well as what actually happened in the Gulf of Tonkin incident (you know its bad when even Wikipedia acknowledges a lie), the latter of which LBJ had been involved with only three years prior.
Learn more about the intelligence services involved in this matter in Joan Mellen’s generally helpful but sometimes wandering Blood in the Water.
Where
The Liberty was sailing in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of either Israel or Egypt. The official US Navy report is that Liberty was at approximately 31-35.5N, 33-29.0E at the time of the attack, roughly 25 miles northeast of the nearest land. This location is consonant with the testimony of witnesses and survivors, though in general the US Navy is not to be trusted at all regarding what happened to the Liberty, given the deep betrayal of her and all her crew.
When
The attack on the Liberty began on the 8th of June at around three in the afternoon and lasted for around 90 minutes.
Get a general overview of the timeline of the attack in the Al-Jazeera documentary The Day Israel Attacked America. Film club discussion here.
How
The morning began with crew who were off-duty relaxing on the deck and waving at Israeli overflights who were conducting reconnaissance on the Liberty. The ship, after all, was plastered in many areas of the interior with mini Israeli flags as most men on the ship considered Israel an ally and were “cheering” for them during the 1967 war. The ship was definitively identified as the USS Liberty before being strafed and napalmed by three Super Mystere jets which had been painted to obscure their identification.
Following this strafing, the Liberty was torpedoed by three Israeli torpedo boats. One of the torpedoes scored a hit which, without fast action from the gallant crew, would have sunk the ship. A helicopter came to finish the job, but flew away when it became clear that Liberty had successfully sent an SOS to the Sixth Fleet.
The Liberty was saved by the daring and courage of its crew and no one else. The closest who might have rendered assistance were, ironically, the Russians, who offered assistance many hours before the US Navy arrived.
For me, the single best resource is the documentary Sacrificing Liberty (film club discussion here), which also has the hearty endorsement of the USS Liberty Veterans Association. The film is very well done and covers every aspect of this horrifying crime that you’ll want to know before digging into specific aspects of it, should you wish to.
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Thank you. A very fine summary of that egregious incident.
I tend to trust your opinions and judgment more over those of so many others on these topics because yours are truly informed by your Catholic faith, and you present things with such order and clarity. Hurrah! I thank God for having for having found you on YT, and now, here on Substack.
Keep up the excellent work, Stephen!