The Day Israel Attacked America

Narrator:
The Liberty had only one doctor on board, with very limited medical resources.

Jim Smith:
There wasn't a table that wasn't being used with a body or a wounded body on it.

Narrator:
The following year American aid to Israel increased four-fold, and President Johnson agreed a treaty, classified above top secret, with Israel for the mutual exchange of intelligence, an arrangement which is still in place today, code-named "Stone Ruby."

Narrator:
The big secret the Israelis wanted to protect was their next move. They had told the Americans that this was to be a limited war, and not a land-grab. But on June 8th, 1967, their forces were poised to attack and seize the Golan Heights and invade Syria; something they wished to keep from the White House until they had done it.

[last lines]

Narrator:
Since the attack on the Liberty, the USA and Israel have grown ever closer. At the time, George Ball, the US Under Secretary of State, noted, that it seemed clear to the Israelis that, as American leaders did not have the courage to punish them for the blatant murder of American citizens, they would let them get away - with anything.

[first lines]

Narrator:
Early June, 1967. The Six Day War in the Middle East between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria is under way. A spy-ship, very lightly armed but bristling with antennae steams into the Mediterranean to eavesdrop on the conflict. It is patrolling in *international* waters off the Egyptian coast. At two in the afternoon, on June 8th, with the war reaching its climax, Israeli jets and motor torpedo boats launch an unprovoked attack on the ship. They drop napalm and strafe its decks with rockets, canon fire, and armor-piercing rounds before trying to sink it with torpedoes.

Narrator:
Israel promised the White House they would not attack first, but on the 5th of June they jammed RADAR sets of the US embassy in Tel Aviv so the Americans couldn't detect the jets taking off to launch a surprise assault on Egypt. Meanwhile, the USS Liberty was sailing across the Mediterranean into the war zone.

Jim Smith:
And they shot at life-rafts, those that were put into the water; and they shot the ones that were still on board the ship.