It only took 36 years . . .

[unixronin]

. . . but the US State Department has finally concluded that the Israeli attack upon the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, was "an act of gross negligence for which [Israel] should be held responsible."  Tapes and transcripts of Israeli pilots and ground control, speaking in Hebrew, were released in July in accordance with a Freedom of Information Act request.

The USS Liberty, an electronic-intelligence ship, was operating in international waters off the Egyptian coast when it was repeatedly attacked over a period of many hours with cannon, rockets and napalm by Israeli Air Force jets and torpedo boats.  Survivors of the attack, among others, have repeatedly stated a belief that the attack was a deliberate effort to stop American surveillance of Israeli activities during the conflict.  Israel has always maintained that the attack was a mistake and that they believed the ship to be an Egyptian horse carrier, begging the question of why an Egyptian horse carrier would be in international waters, flying a US flag, in the middle of a war with Israel.