A one-way relationship

From the time of its founding, Israel has worked diligently to build political influence in the United States through financing selected congressmen and senators. The Israeli political action organizations are active in US elections, particularly if there is a clear choice of a Presidential candidate friendly to Israel.

Israel has four objectives:

1. To destroy any Palestinian group -- civilian or military -- with the long-term objective of occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, killing as many Palestinians as possible. This to be done by getting others to do the killing. When I worked in Lebanon I saw with my own eyes the Christian militia groups that the Israeli military hired to slaughter Palestinians living in refugee camps. Almost like a joke it was the Christians that had blood on their hands, not the Jews. What is going on now in Gaza is another attempt to kill as many Palestinians as possible 
2. To ensure that US military power is available to support Israel’s military actions. This includes as much money as can be extracted from the US. Israel gives money to select congressmen and senators who in turn ensure that the US government gives military assistance in terms of weapons, training, ammunition, intelligence, and methods
3. Support from the US in international groups like the UN. The rest of the world has no illusions of Israeli intentions towards the Palestinians. Only the US is blind. The US is protecting Israel from having to face up to the war crimes they are committing
4. General grant money to support the Israeli budget 

The recent events in Gaza are well known. The reach and skills of Israeli political action groups have succeeded in driving from office the presidents of MIT and Harvard. Why? Because many students were appalled by the stance of the US towards the slaughter of Palestinians and the administrators of these universities were unable to get the students to express support for Israel. Instead, most of the students were sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians.

Despite decades of support, Israel is ultimately an enemy of the US in the rare instances when the US stands in the way of something which Israel badly wants. In that event they will kill and maim American soldiers to get their way.

On June 8, 1967, the fourth day of the Six Day war, the US naval ship USS Liberty was attacked by the Israel Defense Forces. Thirty-three US sailors and one civilian employee of the National Security Agency were killed. One hundred seventy-four sailors and National Security Agency employees were wounded.  While the attack on the USS Liberty had little impact on the outcome of the war, it is a dramatic example of the fog of war, the duplicity of nation states, the predominance of ego over patriotism by national leaders, and most interesting, other than the tragedy of lost lives, the belief by Israel that they could control the behaviour of the US in the Middle East. After the attack on the Liberty, the Israeli leadership realized that they could do what they wanted, the US Government was their lapdog.

The USS Liberty was a cargo ship refitted to collect signals intelligence -- the radio communications of other armies and governments. The Liberty had been ordered to proceed to the eastern Mediterranean to intercept Russian and Arab radio transmissions.  The accounts of what happened during the attack give meaning to the expression “fog of war.” Actions taken by Israelis and Americans were confusing, communications were delayed or not sent to the correct place. People remembered things in different ways.Documents were lost or hidden. Despite great public attention, key documents are not yet declassified. Official reports were doctored for political objectives. Despite this fog, researchers have managed to reconstruct an accurate picture of what happened.

Was the attack deliberate? All of the official reports claim the attack was accidental and the IDF mis-identified the USS Liberty as an Egyptian ship. Both American and Israel official reports are believed by senior American officials to be false.All living members of the Liberty crew say the official reports are false. There is no doubt -- the attack was deliberate.

The Israeli Air Force tracked the ship the morning of the attack. The air attack began at 2:00pm. This crippled the ship with repeated cannon and machine gun fire. However, fighter airplanes have difficulty sinking large ships with machine guns, and rockets and were not able to do so. Three Israeli torpedo boats attacked in the afternoon. One out of six torpedoes fired had hit the Liberty. The American flag continued to fly. The Liberty flew the American flag all through the day and through the attack. Somehow the Israelis managed not to see this flag. Intercepts of communication between Israeli pilots and their ground controllers revealed the ship was clearly known to be American, yet the attack continued. An American submarine observed the attack through its periscope -- the officer who observed said the flag was clearly visible. The photographs have never been released. 

Below are a few statements by American officials:

"I can tell you for an absolute certainty (from intercepted communications) that the Israelis knew they were attacking an American ship." -- NSA Deputy Director Oliver Kirby. 

Or again from a very senior official: 

The legal counsel of the Naval Court of Inquiry reached the same conclusion:

"The evidence was clear. Both Admiral Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack...was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew […] It was our shared belief … that the attack … could not possibly have been an accident […] I am certain that the Israeli pilots [and] their superiors … were well aware that the ship was American." -- Captain Ward Boston, JAGC, US Navy (retired), senior legal counsel to the US Navy Court of Inquiry .

Unfortunately higher officials in the Navy on the order of the President forced the Court of Inquiry to change its original conclusions. Very senior officials of the US government were later, however, clear:

So there it is. There was no doubt the best informed persons in the United States Government believed that the Israeli Government knowingly attacked a United States naval ship in international waters. 

Purpose: One question that is always raised is “why did the Israelis attack the USS Liberty?” Anyone who deals with national security affairs realizes this is a question that is always asked and never gets well answered. The best explanation is that the Israeli army was preparing to attack Syria despite the fact that a ceasefire was close to agreement. The Israelis did not want the US to realize their attack on Syria was to start on June 9 as there would have been a demand to stop. The attack on the USS Liberty deprived the US government of the signals intelligence that would have been collected from intercepts of Israeli communications. It worked, the Israelis used the two extra days to occupy the Golan Heights and deal a severe blow to the Syrian Army.

Consequences: The Israeli government worked diligently to defend the position that this was mistaken identity. It is what one would expect. The misstatements and fabrications have been documented by the survivors and the research carried out by them. Views by official Americans in contradiction to the official reports are given above.

There was a big argument over money. The American government demanded compensation for the families of the dead sailors and for the wounded. They also demanded payment for the cost of the ship repairs. Israel negotiated as if the American sailors were sacks of rice. Actually the sums involved were small -- less than $10 million. This at a time when the US was providing assistance of hundreds of millions of dollars for the Israeli economy and military. The cheap behaviour of the Israeli government and the lack of compassion angered the US. This was not anti-Semitism; the secretary of defense, a leading member of the American Jewish community, was beside himself with anger. 

There was no independent investigation by the US. All attempts of congress to investigate or to have an independent commission were rejected or voted down.There has been a steady stream of documents declassified but some of the most sensitive remain classified.

The American government’s treatment of the captain of the USS Liberty was disgraceful. He was promoted to captain and he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. This medal is almost always awarded by the president in a public ceremony honoring the hero. Not in this case. The president spent his time on some social meetings on the day of the award. Johnson did not want to draw attention to the case.Many members of the crew of the USS Liberty were awarded medals, not one of which mentioned Israel as the attacker. 

The incident clearly shows the power of the Israeli government over the US. Even when the Israeli government deliberately attacked the American Navy they were able to persuade Johnson and Congressional leaders to keep this quiet. This influence results in an American Middle East policy moving from one disaster to another. The Palestinian people have been the main sufferers.

Betrayal: After the deaths and wounding of Liberty’s crew the saddest part of this story is the failure of the US Navy to come to the assistance of the Liberty. 

One of the senior Liberty officers recorded the discussion described: “Sixth Fleet Admiral Geis told me that since I was the senior Liberty survivor on board he wanted to tell me in confidence what had actually transpired. He told me that upon receipt of our SOS, aircraft were launched to come to our assistance. Secretary of Defense (Robert McNamara) ordered the aircraft be returned to the carrier. Admiral Geis put together another flight and launched these to assist Liberty. Again, McNamara ordered the aircraft recalled. Geis requested confirmation of the order, being unable to believe that Washington would let us sink. This time President Johnson ordered the recall with the comment that ‘he did not care if every man drowned and the ship sank, but that he would not embarrass his allies’.”

This pair of egotists went on to lose the Vietnam war. On June 8, Americans should say a prayer for the men of the USS Liberty, who died for their country and were betrayed by their own president. 

The two critical events facing the US today are the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the growing Chinese military capabilities around Taiwan, Philippines, South Korea, and Japan -- both of which are neglected. American forces are busy protecting Israel which is perfectly capable of protecting itself. Yet, the American military is heavily deployed around Lebanon and Israel. 

The Middle East is not so important yet, that is where you find the American fleet and marines. How sad. But the Master has called and we hasten to obey.

Forrest Cookson is an economist who has served as the first president of AmCham and has been a consultant for the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics