What's the handwave offered for this incident?
Israelis attempted to sink the ship to make it appear that Egypt was the culprit and draw American intervention directly against Egypt.
>>1251290
According to a joint US-Israeli investigation, it was the result of extreme gross incompetence by the Israelis.
There is probably more to the story, but considering the fact that this was in the middle of the Cold War, it was in the best interest of both parties to publish it as an accident.
> Americans complaining about friendly fire
lel
>>1251290
Just a friendly reminder who was in charge
>>1251290
You'd have to understand the bigger picture. Israel felt so much threat and pressure with so many opponents on all sides, they were literally spinning out and it was all Kissinger could do to talk them down from using nukes. I'm trying to think of a comparison, as when you might see a guy attacked by 5 other guys, he's doing well for awhile keeping himself standing, punches are flying all over, and you, as an observer, get too close to the fray, and you get punched by the lone guy.
The fact there was such a war going on wasn't Israel's "fault" in the first place, and the fact they "won" without major USA intervention against the invading countries is pretty fucking gnarly.
>>1251290
It was a war, shit happens
>>1251290
They thought it was an Egyptian ship.
They were in the middle of fighting the entire arab world, so it's not entirely unreasonable to assume they were jumpy and made a mistake.
They claim that they thought it was an egyptian ship. The problem is the egyptian ship was a quarter of the size of the Liberty.
>>1252447
Did they think the lifeboats were Egyptian ships too?
>>1252369
>>1252392
>>1252447
The ship was identified and confirmed as an American ship. Israeli planes flew low past it and the pilots and crew waved at each other. The ship was reported to Israeli command and control to be American because of it's flag and markings. The Israelis were sinking any ship that was going over 20 knots near their coast, the Liberty was travelling at 5 knots. There had been reports of an Egyptian destroyer off the coast of Arish, but the Liberty was much smaller than that and only had machine guns, unlike a destroyer. I'm just not buying the friendly fire explanation. Something like >>1251508 seems more likely.
