USS Liberty

During the Six Day War Israel attempted to stage a false flag attack on an American intelligence ship named the USS Liberty, killing 34 crew members and injuring 171. Had the ship sunk without any survivors the attack probably would have been blamed on the Egyptians to get the US involved in the war.

What they did to the Liberty

Shot at by planes - The USS Liberty was attacked by two unmarked Israeli jets for three hours.

Use of Napalm - By the time the first two had run out of ammunition, two more had been sent to bomb it with napalm. 

Targeted lifeboats - During the attack, Lloyd Painter recalls torpedo boats with the star of David on them machine gunning crewmen, as well as targeting the ship's life rafts to prevent escape, a violation of the Geneva convention. (𓃠)

Jamming Distress signals - To prevent the crew from calling for help, the Israelis Jammed the ship's distress and tactical frequencies, which is a violation of international law. 

Torpedo - The last thing the Israelis did to the ship was torpedo a 39ft hole into its starboard side, killing 25.

The Israelis knew that it was an American ship 

Visibly obvious - The Israelis' report on the incident concluded that the affair was a mistake and that no one was to blame, despite the fact that the ship was flying an America flag; bore the name USS Liberty, carried the numbers of an American naval vessel and was 5 times bigger than the Egyptian ship which they claimed they think it was.

Audio Evidence - We know for a fact that they knew, because Al Jazeera obtained an audio recording of the Israeli end of the attack, in which at 156pm, the Liberty is confirmed as an American ship.

Dwight Porter, Ambassador to Lebanon at the time, claims to have heard audio picked up by the NSA revealing the order to affirm the attack, knowing full well that it was an American ship. (𓃠) This was also reported by an EC1 21 airborne surveillance aircraft operated by the NSA.

Why Israel did it 

There are two main reasons the Israelis attacked the Liberty

#1. To stage a false flag attack on Egypt, hence the fact that their planes were unmarked, which is an international law violation, (𓃠) and that they had tried three times to sink it.

#2. Had the Liberty survived it would have obtained intelligence on Israel's attack on Saini and its push into the Golan heights, from where Israel would later amass its troops outside of Syria. It also would have exposed the fact that the IDF had been executing Egyptian POWs, something which according to declassified documents, Israel would change their policy on three days after failing to sink the intelligence ship.

To stage a false flag attack on Egypt

UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: Article 224

The US was in on it

There is evidence that the US was in on the false flag operation as an excuse to invade Egypt, being a Soviet backed country. This is backed up by claims from officials involved in with the Liberty compiled by Journalist Peter Hounam in his book Operation Cyanide.

The US set up the Liberty to be attacked - Peter Hounam pointed out that it's suspicious that the Liberty was sent into what was at the time a war zone to collect intelligence which  could have recorded from Cyprus. According to Liberty Crew members, the ship was mandated to move closer to Egypt so that certain people aboard could perform more delicate tasks delegated by Washington.

When the Liberty's captain, William McGonagle requested a destroyer to escort them, admiral William Martin of the Sixth fleet took a whole day to answer, before rejecting the motion on the grounds that the Liberty was a well-marked US vessel in international waters, and that combat jets were 10 minutes away if it were attacked. (𓃠) 

Both promises of security were false, since Israel and Egypt had warned foreign countries to stay off their shores, and no fighter jets would come to save the Liberty as things played out.

The US prevented the Liberty's rescue - The first emergency call was at 13:58, and the attacks stopped at 15:15. Joe M. Tully, captain of the US aircraft carrier Saratoga, said he sent fighter-bombers and four tankers to save the Liberty, which were personally recalled by US secretary of defense Robert McNamara at 2:24pm (𓃠) One minute after their departure, Admiral Lawrence Geis, commander of the Sixth Fleet ordered Tully by radio to retrieve the aircraft, who was instructed to let the aircrafts take off again after 90 minutes, before also being called back. (𓃠) David E. Lewis claims that while he was in the hospital after the attack, Admiral Geis told him that he had sent planes twice to save the Liberty, each time being ordered back by the white house, and that when Geis asked for conformation from LBJ, Johnson ordered the aircrafts to be retrieved on the grounds that "I will not embarrass our allies".

This timeline of events has been corroborated by Julian Hart, a former Navy communications man in Morocco, who claims that he Robert McNamara wanted to be connected with the commander of the Sixth Fleet, Admiral Geis who requested permission to send planes, to which  McNamara said "no, that would not be an option." In a second call 40 minutes later McNamara told the admiral he was allowed to fly planes in 30 minutes or 25 minutes. (𓃠)

The US planned on attacked Cairo had the ship sunk - A document dated April 10, 1967, was discovered in the case files of the Liberty case at the LBJ library in Austin, Texas recording the minutes of the meeting of the so called 303 Committee on April 7, 1967, with only one entry. 35 years later, Richard Helms revealed the role of this committee, stating, he was "merely a device for evaluating covert operations of any kind, authorizing such operations on beheld of the president, so that the president can not be nailed down to this matter in case the operation fails." The committee meeting was conducted by Walt Rostov, Security Advisor to the President. General Ralph D. Steakley attended the meeting and briefed the committee on a risky military project called Frontlet 615, possibly referring to the date of a potential attack. In the record, this entry is supplemented by the committee note: Submarine in the waters of UAR". (Nassar's United Arab Republic) 

This operation to attack Egypt is backed up by vid Nes, Managing Director of the US Embassy in Cairo, who told Peter Hounam that on On June 8, 1967 he received a message from the aircraft carrier US Saratoga that warplanes were headed for Cairo in retaliation for an Egyptian attack on the Liberty, before receiving a message stating instead the attack was from Israel. (𓃠) Members of the crew of the Sixth Fleet confirmed this plan wen they later testified that Cairo was originally the target of the aircraft that allegedly flew in the direction of the Liberty and were recalled.

Manager Joe Sorrels tracked down Peter Hounam to tell him throughout four phone calls of his experience being sent to Israel a few months before the outbreak of the war as part of a secret operation, called Operation Cyanide. 

The name Operation Cyanide has incidentally also been referenced by Charles Rowley, who told fellow survivor Jim Ennes that he was admitted to "a secret submarine project code-named Cyanide," in relation to submarines. (𓃠)

Sorrels further stated that this was a "joint plan of elements of Israeli and US military intelligence to fabricate a war with Egypt and topple Nassar. Sorrels said he was secretly sent to Israel in 1966 as an Israeli army advisor. He found out on arrival that he was part of a multinational group of so-called advisors from Australia and the UK. The leaders of this group came from the USA. "They were very secretive he said. Hounam asked is that meant British would be involved in a coming war. That's how I understood it then, he replied. Sorrels reiterated that Operation Cyanide was a secret plan to start a war against Egypt, and that he was there to sell a list of goods related to alliance, ability and commitment to the Israelis. (𓃠)

The Liberty's chief engineer, George Golden, claims that while the ship was being repaired in Malta, he talked to a decorated Navy captain who was at the Israeli command Centre in Tel Aviv, who told him that they should have sunk the Liberty. Goldstone also talked to Captain McGonagle, who expressed to him his opinion that LBJ and McNamara had set them up to die. Goldstone claims to have had men visit his house and demand and threaten him to hand over documents about the Liberty which he had preserved. (𓃠) 

The US government covered it up

John McCain Sr. covered it up - Commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe, John S. McCain Sr., ordered the official court of inquiry to investigate the attack. Despite emitting the testimony of the ship's survivors, Adm. McCain concluded from the court's findings that the incident was a case of mistaken identity. This has been refuted in an interview by the legal advisor to the court, who called the final report a sham and a cover-up. (𓃠)

The US considered sinking it to hide the damage - according to documents released under freedom of information, one solution suggested in American government circles was to sink the liberty so journalists could not photograph is and inflame public opinion against the Israelis.

Damage to the ship was hidden - The Israeli government hired teams of lawyers, and began an all out offensive. they leant on the media to kill critical stories, and slanted others in favor of Israel.

After the ship headed to Malta for repair, the 6th fleet commander, Isaac Kid, ordered the survivors to remove the ship's name from their uniforms, then ordered them to go ashore in civilian clothes.

While stationed in Malta, the Liberty underwent repairs by over 200 Maltese workers to cover the boat's shell holes, fabricate metal to cover torpedo hole, and give it a paint job so it would look as if nothing had happened.

When the ship was brought back to the states the 168 bags of body parts and top secret equipment were taken to an incinerator and burned. 

Altering of the ship's Logs - The ship's log was altered to fit the Israeli timeline, supporting that only after 20 minutes of engagement the ship was attacked for a total of 50 minutes and not 2 hours, breaking off contact after they had realized their error. 

Survivors were silenced

Survivors were threatened with imprisonment "or worse". (𓃠) 

The medal of Honor - They gave captain McGonagle a Medal of Honor as compensation, but it wasn't presented to him by the president, and the senate records and MoD society recorded that it was earned in Vietnam, without any specific further details. An internal memo reveals that Johnson was advised to hand the ceremony over the the DoD, due to the nature and sensitivity of the award.

Prevention from talking to the press - Guards were placed in front of the rooms of survivors in hospitals to prevent the press from getting to them. 

Widow Patricia Blue-Rousakis had men from the NSA stay in her house for six weeks, answering phone to make sure she wouldn't talk to the press. (𓃠)

Survivor testimony was emitted from the report - In the American Navy enquiry into the liberty, Lloyde Painter testified to the machine gunning of life rafts, and to the captains state of mind. He notes that those two issues were totally emitted. Dave Lucas, who was in charge of the deck, scraped unburned Vaseline and put it in a jar. After presented it to the court of inquiry, he reports there being no mention of napalm. 

Joe Tully of the Saratoga was also shocked to learn that neither he nor Captain Donald Engen of the US aircraft carrier America had been interviewed during the investigation of the events by the US Navy. (𓃠)

The Navy threatening survivors with electroshock therapy - According to Liberty survivor Jim Ennes's book, sailors transferred to San Juan after the attack were locked in a psychiatric ward of the base hospital, drugged threatened with electroshock therapy, and forced to promise in writing never to discuss the liberty attack or the hospital episode. 

In similar treatment, William LaMay, who was badly injured in the attack, explains in a documentary how he woke up one day in hospital with a bracelet bearing Smith as his name. He asked to correct that, but was told, "This is your name at the moment and you have never been on the USS Liberty" (𓃠)

Threats of court-martial - Lloyd Painter received a Purple Heart for surviving the attack, and was admonished by threat of court marshal from telling anybody how he got it. Joe Benkert, recalls being threatened with court-martial, and being followed around by an officer to monitor what he said to the press.

Censorship from social media - USS Liberty Veterans Association reports being censored from Facebook and Youtube. Nor has the Liberty Veterans association war crimes report file addressing Israel's targeting of life rafts been headed. (𓃠) 

What can be done

Report Israel for war crimes - To help get Israel tried for war crimes, you can press the UN on the matter by contacting them through email: osapg@un.org

Request the full investigation - Senator John Barrasso has claimed in a letter to one of the survivors that the Liberty attack has been investigated 10 times. If this is true, then surely it wouldn't hurt for the public to get their hands on it.

Email your local Congressional Delegation here: https://www.house.gov/representatives and ask them to send you a copy of the Congressional investigation of the attack. If they blow smoke up your ass, call them again and tell them to ask the Congressional Research Service to send you a copy of the US government investigation of the attack.

You can request the same from the Office of the Historian: history@state.gov and your local senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Contact other countries - You can also inform countries to whom such information is useful as rhetoric for pressuring western powers into acknowledging the case.

Iran: info@mfa.gov.ir

Syria: http://www.moj.gov.sy