Uss Liberty Conspiracy Theory

In the midst of the Six-Day War,

Israeli planes spotted the USS Liberty, a U.S. naval spy ship,

70 miles off the coast of Egyptian-controlled Gaza.

Hours later, the ship was under attack.

The Israeli and American governments say the event

was a tragic case of friendly fire.

Some survivors are skeptical, and have accused

both governments of a cover-up.

And that, unfortunately, is exactly the kind of language

that galvanizes conspiracy theorists.

So what really happened to the USS Liberty on that fateful day?

And how did this wartime tragedy become the foundation

of decades-long conspiracy theories?

To start, let’s walk through the details of the incident,

and look at the points on which survivors

disagree with the official story.

In May 1967, with tensions rising across the Middle East,

the USS Liberty was sent to the Mediterranean

to intercept Egyptian radio transmissions.

By June 8th, Israel was on day four of the Six-Day War

and the crew aboard the Liberty found themselves

unwittingly in the midst of a war.

Israeli forces first spotted the Liberty at around 5:55 a.m.

But they weren’t sure whom the boat belonged to,

so they left it alone.

According to the Israeli investigation,

the vessel was marked as a neutral ship,

and after a few hours without updates on its movements,

the ship was cleared from the board, and was forgotten

by the shift that came to replace them in the morning.

By 11:24 a.m., Israeli forces reported a huge explosion

at El Arish, a town on the coast of the Sinai peninsula

that was recently captured by Israel.