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Short answer
The accusation that Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty to hurt U.S.-Israel relations is pure conspiracy theory—and it’s been debunked over and over.
The incident during the Six-Day War in 1967 was a tragic mistake, not a plot. Multiple investigations—by both the U.S. and Israel—concluded it was misidentification in the chaos of war.
The U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry found no evidence it was intentional. Israel apologized, took responsibility, and paid compensation.
But haters keep pushing this blood libel to poison the alliance between two strong allies.
Long answer
The accusation that Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty in 1967 to sabotage its relationship with the United States is a long-standing blood libel with no basis in fact.
The incident happened during the height of the Six-Day War, when Israeli forces mistakenly identified the American intelligence ship as an Egyptian vessel near an active combat zone off the Sinai coast.
The result was tragic: 34 American servicemen were killed and over 170 wounded. But the claim that this was intentional has been repeatedly investigated and thoroughly debunked by both U.S. and Israeli inquiries.
What led to this terrible mistake?
A chain of critical wartime errors. Israeli recon planes had flown over the ship earlier, but later lost visual contact. Naval intelligence misidentified the ship as a known Egyptian vessel supplying enemy troops. The Liberty wasn’t properly flagged or communicated to Israeli forces, and U.S. communication codes were out of sync, delaying clarification.
It was a deadly mix of fog-of-war confusion, misidentification, and communication failure.
And it’s important to remember: tragic incidents like this happen in every war. The U.S. accidentally bombed its own troops in Vietnam and Afghanistan. In 1994, two U.S. Air Force jets shot down two American Black Hawks over Iraq, killing 26 coalition members. In 1999, during the Kosovo war, NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, thinking it was a military target.
None of these were deliberate—they were wartime tragedies. The same applies to the USS Liberty.
Israel immediately apologized, accepted responsibility, and paid millions in compensation. The U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry found no evidence of intent, and no credible documentation has ever proved otherwise. Still, conspiracy theorists exploit the incident to push anti-Israel narratives—not to honor the victims, but to attack the U.S.-Israel alliance.
