Lieutenant James Ennes, one of the Liberty’s officers, wrote a detailed book about the incident called Assault on the Liberty, published in 1979.¹ It exposes the tremendous evidence showing how the attack was a calculated and deliberate attempt to sink a ship the Israelis knew was American and kill any survivors so there would be no American witnesses. The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon at the time has also come forward and stated that when he was on duty in the Middle East, he heard U.S.-intercepted Israeli communications with the attacking Israeli fighters acknowledging the ship was American. Many prominent leaders of the U.S. Navy courageously have gone on record to demand a real inquiry on the Liberty, and the head of Navy Operations said that the evidence clearly pointed to a planned attack. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Admiral Thomas Moorer and the surviving crew of the U.S.S. Liberty all say that the attack was clearly deliberate.

Perhaps one could understand such a treacherous act from the enemies of this country, but not from a supposed ally. The fact that Israel had attacked the forces of the nation that has supported it more than any other — in money, diplomacy, good will, and even military arms (including weapons that were turned against our men) — has to be one of the most egregious acts of military betrayal in the history of nations.

I asked myself how Israel could be so reckless as to attack an American vessel. The obvious answer was that they knew their operation against the Liberty held very little risk, for if the attack succeeded and the ship and all its crew were destroyed, Israel would get everything it wanted in the war. If they failed in their mission to sink the Liberty and blame it on the Egyptians, the Israelis knew they could pass it off as a mistake. They also knew that their massive influence in government and the press would help them cover up. After sweeping the terror and dispossession of a million and one half Palestinians under the rug for half a century — the Liberty was child’s play.

Not only has our noble ally, Israel, attacked American forces, it has had highly placed spies in our government for decades. One example is the Pollard Affair, in which a highly placed Jew in American intelligence passed over huge amounts of top secret material to the Israeli government. When Pollard was duly tried, convicted, and imprisoned, the Israeli government established a fund to help secure his release and reward him for his service. Since the Pollard affair the Zionists have not needed low-level spies, for they now have highly committed Zionists dominating the highest intelligence levels of the United States — in the president’s National Security Council.