That Time Israel killed 34 Americans, and the U.S. covered it up
Is it only Israel who can get away with an assault on a US Navy ship?
In 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israeli forces launched a brutal, sustained attack on a United States Navy ship, the USS Liberty. Thirty-four Americans were killed. Over 170 were wounded. The assault lasted for over an hour, involved fighter jets, torpedo boats, and napalm. The ship was torn apart, burning, and left barely afloat. The United States never retaliated. In fact, it barely acknowledged it.
The official story was ‘a mistake’. Israel claimed it misidentified the ship as Egyptian, despite the massive American flag flying in clear weather, and the ship’s unique silhouette and markings. Survivors, military analysts, and even NSA insiders have rejected that excuse. The attack was deliberate. The ship was clearly marked, operating in international waters, and had been reconnoitered by Israeli aircraft earlier that same morning.
So why was it buried?
The U.S. government rushed to accept Israel’s apology. No congressional investigation was ever fully pursued. Survivors were ordered not to talk under threat of imprisonment. Journalists were stonewalled. And what could have been seen as an act of war was scrubbed from the national memory. The reason is simple: geopolitics.
By 1967, Israel had become a cornerstone of U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East. The Cold War was raging. Washington was focused on limiting Soviet influence in Arab states and securing dominance over oil-rich regions. Israel’s military success in the Six-Day War made it an attractive ally. Justice for murdered U.S. sailors was considered expendable. The lives lost on the Liberty were collateral damage in a relationship too valuable to risk.
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration did more than ignore the attack. It actively suppressed it. The official Navy inquiry was rushed and limited. Survivors were threatened. Their trauma was politicized. And those who spoke out were smeared or ignored. When Admiral Thomas Moorer, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, later called the attack deliberate and the cover-up disgraceful, he was dismissed by most of the press. But he was telling the truth.
Evidence has since emerged suggesting the Liberty was attacked to prevent it from intercepting Israeli communications during the war — especially concerning the alleged massacre of Egyptian prisoners of war in the Sinai. If that’s the case, this was not mistaken identity. It was a targeted strike against a U.S. ship to hide war crimes. Not only was the crime buried, but its very motive was erased from public consciousness.
Israel fired upon a known ally. It jammed American emergency channels. It machine-gunned life rafts. This was not confusion in the fog of war. This was execution, followed by an orchestrated silence.
And that silence still holds.
The Liberty incident is not a footnote. It is a key to understanding the modern U.S.-Israel relationship. A relationship defined not by shared values, but by shared impunity. A relationship where an ally can kill Americans, and the only response is deeper military cooperation. A relationship where geopolitical utility outweighs human life. Where truth is inconvenient, and memory is disposable.
Every president since has chosen to look away. Every Congress has chosen not to act. Every major news outlet, for over five decades, has ignored or downplayed what happened. The survivors, many of whom carried physical and psychological scars for life, were left to fight alone, against both the trauma of the attack and the betrayal that followed.
It raises a simple, damning question: if the United States won’t defend its own troops from an allied power, what does that say about its values? What does it say to every soldier in uniform today, that political alliances come first, and their lives come second?
And what other truths have been buried under the same logic? The answer is many. The USS Liberty was the canary in the coal mine. Its silence became a blueprint. From ignoring Israel’s role in arming apartheid South Africa, to turning a blind eye to war crimes in Gaza, to granting billions in military aid with no conditions, the pattern is clear. American loyalty to Israel is not based on morality. It is based on power, immunity, and control.
Thirty-four Americans died in broad daylight. Their government let it happen. Then buried it. Their names were sacrificed on the altar of a myth the myth of a flawless alliance.
Never forget the USS Liberty. Never forget the silence that followed. And never let anyone tell you it was an accident. It was policy. And it still is.In 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israeli forces launched a brutal, sustained attack on a United States Navy ship, the USS Liberty. Thirty-four Americans were killed. Over 170 were wounded. The assault lasted for over an hour, involved fighter jets and torpedo boats, and left the ship torn apart, burning, and barely afloat. The United States never retaliated. In fact, it barely acknowledged it.
The official story was a mistake. Israel claimed it misidentified the ship as Egyptian, despite the massive American flag flying in clear weather, and the ship’s unique silhouette and markings. Survivors, military analysts, and even NSA insiders have rejected that excuse. The attack was deliberate.
So why was it buried?
The U.S. government rushed to accept Israel’s apology. No congressional investigation was ever fully pursued. Survivors were ordered not to talk. Journalists were stonewalled. And what could have been seen as an act of war was scrubbed from the national memory. The reason is simple: geopolitics.
By 1967, Israel was becoming a key strategic ally in the Middle East. The Cold War was in full swing. Washington was more interested in cultivating regional dominance than seeking justice for its dead sailors. The lives lost on the Liberty were collateral damage in a relationship too valuable to risk.
In the years since, countless documents have been declassified. Testimonies have emerged. Admirals, diplomats, and intelligence officers have spoken out. But the official silence holds. Because acknowledging the truth would mean admitting that one of America’s closest allies knowingly killed its own troops, and got away with it.
The Liberty incident is not just a historical footnote. It is a warning. It reveals the depth of U.S. subservience to Israeli interests, even at the cost of American lives. It shows how truth is sacrificed on the altar of foreign policy. And it reminds us that when power kills, silence is its most reliable weapon.
Ask yourself: what other lies have we swallowed to preserve the illusion of shared values? What other crimes have been excused to protect the narrative of friendship?
Thirty-four Americans died in broad daylight. Their government let it happen. Then buried it.
Never forget the USS Liberty. And never let anyone tell you it was an accident.