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On June 8, 1967, the American naval intelligence-gathering ship USS LIBERTY was attacked by Israeli air and naval forces off the coast of Gaza. Thirty-four crewmen were killed and 171 wounded. Beyond these two statements almost everything concerning this event is a matter of controversy. Furthermore, there are many unanswered questions, and mysterious circumstances not yet fully explained.
The crewmen of the ship believe that the attack was deliberate, and that the US and Israeli Governments cooperated to hide this fact, with false and rigged investigations and with untrue official accounts. The crewmen were ordered to keep silent on the matter, and as military men they had to obey. Fourteen years later, retired and no longer silenced, many of them formed the LIBERTY Veterans Association to wage a campaign to tell their version of events, a dissenting history opposed to the official history. The men have waged a remarkable campaign for attention and have gained the backing of important public figures and journalists. Their views are largely ignored by officials of the United States Government. The Israeli Government and its supporters have denounced the dissenting history produced by the LIBERTY crewmen as false and untruthful. Some of the questions on this subject which have not been answered to the satisfaction of all parties, and other questions concerning plain information (i.e., not partisan) still need to be more fully discussed. Among these questions are: |
