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By FRED S. HOFFMAN WASHINGTON (AP) ~— A Navy court of inquiry has re fused to speculate on whether Israeli jets and PT boats knew they were attacking a U.S. ves sel when they rocketed, ma chine-gunned and torpedoed the communications ship Liberty during the Middle East war. A summary of the court's pro ceedings, released by the Penta gon late Wednesday, also made no mention of reports the ship was engaged in electronic spying on Israeli and Egyptian communications when she was hit June 8 some 15 miles north of the Sinai Peninsula. Secret Report The summary, prepared from a secret report, said witnesses before the Navy court testified to ‘‘significant surveillance of the Liberty on three occasions” from the air hours before the midafternoon attack. But the document added that because it was not an interna tional investigation, there was no evidence on whether _ the planes identified the Liberty. The Navy court affirmed the vessel's right to be where _ it was, in international waters, and produced evidence the Israeli armed forces ‘‘had ample op portunity to identify the Liberty correctly,’’ the summary said. “The court had insufficient information before it to make a judgment on the reasons for the decision by Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats to attack,”’ the Pentagon report said. No Evidence “It was not the responsibility of the court to rule on the culpa bility of the attackers, and no evidence was heard from the attacking nation.”’ The summary said the Navy court, which met in closed ses sion in London and aboard the shattered vessel in Malta, found that the Liberty was in interna tional waters, ‘‘properly marked as to her identity and nationality, and in calm, clear ‘weather when she suffered an unprovoked attack.” A total of 33 U.S. Navy men and a civilian technician for the supersecret National Security Agency were killed in the at tack. Seventy-five others were injured. The Israeli government apolo gized and offered to make amends. Israeli military author ities have announced their own inquiry into the attack, which occurred three days after the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli war. The Defense Department has ‘said from the outset that the Liberty, a converted World War II merchant ship, was sent to the area ‘‘to assure communica tions between the U.S. govern ment posts in the Middle East and to assist in relaying in formation concerning the evacu ation of American dependents and other American citizens.” There have been published reports that the Liberty actually was functioning as a spy ship eavesdropping on Egyptian and Israeli communications, and that it was operated by the Navy for the National Security Agency.
Newspaper Details
Abilene Reporter News
Abilene, Texas, US
Thu, Jun 29, 1967
Page 41
Full Page
Clipped by
Donna B.
USA 16 Jun 2026
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