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Debunking Candace Owens’ Lies About Israel Attacking the USS Liberty
Political activist Candace Owens in the spin room at the Fiserv Forum following the first Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23, 2023. Photo: Chris Dilts/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
In a tragic event during the 1967 Six-Day War, the USS Liberty, a US Navy spy ship, came under attack from Israeli forces — resulting in the deaths of 34 American servicemen.
More than 50 years after it occurred, the USS Liberty incident continues to inspire a host of rabid anti-Israel conspiracy theories and to inflame the conversation surrounding the relationship between the United States and Israel.
From antisemitic commentator Candace Owens recently driving a surge of conspiracy theories about the incident on social media, to a campaign of billboards claiming that Israel intentionally bombed the ship, the USS Liberty has been used by those on both the right and the left as a brush to tarnish Israel’s reputation, and turn American public opinion against the Jewish State.
But what exactly happened to the USS Liberty? Was it a case of mistaken identity in the fog of war, or a deliberate strike by Israel against American servicemen? Is there any validity to the conspiracy theories surrounding the incident, or are they all the machinations of a hate-filled imagination?
The USS Liberty Incident
In mid-May 1967, as Egypt ramped up tensions with Israel, the Sixth Fleet of the United States Navy was ordered to the eastern Mediterranean in an attempt to break through the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran.
One of the ships attached to the Sixth Fleet was the USS Liberty, a spy vessel that, while formally under the command of the Sixth Fleet, was in practice under the control of the National Security Agency (NSA).
Although not an original member of the blockade-breaking naval convoy (which never came to fruition), the USS Liberty was ordered on May 30 to sail from Spain to a half mile outside Egyptian and Israeli territorial waters. The Liberty’s mission was likely to spy on the Egyptian military and its Soviet advisers.
On June 5, 1967, after increasing hostilities on its southern border, Israel pre-emptively struck Egypt. The Six-Day War had begun.
Four days later, on June 8, as the Israeli capture of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt was nearly complete, the USS Liberty finally arrived at the waters off the coast of Sinai.
In the early morning hours, an Israeli plane spotted the USS Liberty. After some uncertainty regarding the identity of this vessel, it was determined by the Israeli Navy to be the USS Liberty, and was designated as a “neutral ship.”
However, at 11:00 A.M., as the shifts changed at the navy’s headquarters, the “neutral” designation was removed from the ship as part of protocol, as the information was five hours old and considered to be no longer relevant.
At 11:24 A.M., a large explosion occurred in the coastal Sinai city of El-Arish. While it is now known that the explosion was likely caused by an ammunition dump, it was assumed by the IDF that Egyptian naval forces had fired at the city (as had occurred in recent days).
From that point, the search was on for which Egyptian ship had fired on El-Arish.
At 1:41 P.M., an officer aboard an Israeli torpedo boat erroneously noted a ship sailing towards Egypt at 30 knots. Since this was faster than the Liberty’s maximum speed, it was assumed that this was the Egyptian vessel in question. This miscalculation would have grave results.
Israeli jets were dispatched to the area and, after not seeing an American flag or distinguishing marks on the vessel, the order was given to bomb the ship.
At 1:58 P.M., two waves of Israeli jets bombarded (including with napalm) the American spy ship over the next 14 minutes, killing nine service members.
At 2:44 P.M., three Israeli torpedo boats approached the ship. With smoke from the earlier aerial bombardment obscuring the ship, the boats requested that the vessel identify itself. The response from the USS Liberty (which could not see the Israeli identity of the boats through the smoke) was for the Israeli boats to identify themselves. As a similar exchange had occurred with an enemy Egyptian naval ship during the 1956 Sinai War, the Israeli naval officers assumed that this was an Egyptian ship acting in the same manner. After consulting their intelligence, the Israelis determined it was the Egyptian freighter El-Quseir.
At the same time, a service member on the USS Liberty disobeyed the captain’s orders and opened fire on the Israeli torpedo boats. Now convinced that it was an enemy ship attacking them, the torpedo boats opened fire on the USS Liberty. Five torpedoes were fired at the ship and one made contact, killing an additional 25 servicemen.
At 3:30 P.M., the ship was positively identified as the USS Liberty. In the immediate aftermath of this incident, Israel accepted blame for firing on the Liberty and opened official investigations into what had occurred.
Since June 8, 1967, there have been three official Israeli investigations and 11 official American investigations (including by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA, the US Navy, and Congress) into the matter. All investigations have determined that this was a tragic case of mistaken identity.
Israel has paid millions of dollars to the United States, families of those killed in the attack, and those service members who were wounded during the attack, as restitution for this friendly fire incident.
The Conspiracy Theories
Despite Israel’s almost immediate acceptance of blame and investigation of the incident (which was determined to be a tragic case of friendly fire), many in the American government felt that Israel was covering up what truly happened. It was only after several official American investigations that Israel was absolved of intentionally firing upon the USS Liberty.
However, some still refuse to believe the official narrative, stating that Israel intentionally attacked the American spy ship. Due to the top-secret nature of this incident, it took many years before most of the critical evidence regarding the USS Liberty was allowed to be released to the public. These decades of concealed evidence allowed for a wide variety of theories about why Israel intentionally bombed the Liberty to percolate within American and Israeli societies.
While the campaign to find Israel guilty of intentionally bombing the USS Liberty is largely driven by some former veterans who served on the vessel, this incident has also been co-opted by those seeking to harm Israel-United States relations and besmirch the Jewish State.
As one analyst put it, the skepticism of these veterans regarding the official narrative has “swung open the door for antisemites.”
Although many are certain that the American and Israeli governments are lying about Israel intentionally bombing the USS Liberty, there is no consensus among these theorists as to why Israel would bomb the US spy ship.
Here are just some of the theories that have been put forward about the bombing of the USS Liberty since 1967:
- Israel wanted to frame Egypt for the attack on the USS Liberty in order to draw the United States into joining its war against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.
- American President Lyndon B. Johnson wanted to use the incident as a false-flag operation in order to advance his strategic goals for the Middle East, which included the toppling of the Egyptian government.
- Israel wanted to draw the United States into a third world war.
- Israel bombed the Liberty as the spy ship had picked up evidence of Israel killing Egyptian POWs.
- Israel bombed the Liberty because the American vessel had picked up the IDF’s plans to conquer the Golan Heights from Syria, which the United States was opposed to.
- Israel bombed the USS Liberty because the ship had picked up evidence of preparations at Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona.
These conspiracy theories, however, do not pass muster when confronted with the now-available evidence and a rational look at the context in which the USS Liberty incident occurred.
The Case Against the USS Liberty Conspiracy Theories
The following are some of the key points and pieces of evidence that cast doubt on the conspiracy theories surrounding the USS Liberty incident, and substantiate the findings that this was a case of friendly fire and not an intentional Israeli attack on an American naval ship:
- It is unclear if the American flag on the USS Liberty was visible to the Israelis. The winds were quiet on June 8, meaning the ship’s flag was drooped. For planes flying overhead at high speeds, it would have been non-discernible.
- The United States had informed Israel that no US ships were in the vicinity off the coast of Sinai. The USS Liberty actually had orders to move further out to sea but, due to communications issues, they did not arrive until a day later.
- Recordings captured during, and immediately after, the bombing of the USS Liberty show that Israel’s biggest fear was that it had accidentally attacked a Soviet ship, not an American one.
- One of the CIA documents includes the claim that the NSA picked up a discussion between an Israeli pilot and his commander ordering him to fire, knowing that it is an American ship. However, this claim is hearsay by the US ambassador to Lebanon and no recording has ever been produced.
- Similarly, in 1991, two Washington Post journalists claimed an American was in the Israeli war room when the decision was made to bomb the USS Liberty, knowing that it was an American ship. The American in question, Seth Mintz, wrote a response to the newspaper, saying he was misquoted and that he believed it to be a case of “mistaken identity.”
- Israel was already more than halfway through the war and had almost totally defeated the Egyptians by June 8. There was no need to attempt to trick the Americans into joining the war so late in the game.
- The Liberty only arrived off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula on June 8, making it unlikely to have possessed any secret Israeli recordings from days prior.
- Declassified documents show that Israel never concealed its plan to conquer the Golan Heights from the United States, disproving the conspiracy theory about the bombing as an attempt to hide the attack plan.
- If Israel had always intended to bomb the Liberty, it could have done so when the ship was first observed at 5:55 A.M. by an Israeli reconnaissance plane. There was no rationale for waiting 8 hours to attack the vessel during the day.
- Friendly fire incidents are common during war. During the Six-Day War alone, at least 50 IDF soldiers were killed in friendly fire incidents, including one that occurred a day before the USS Liberty incident.
While the case of the USS Liberty is used by those on both the left and the right to subvert the relationship between Israel and the United States and to question the integrity of the Jewish State, it is clear that this incident was a tragic case of friendly fire between two allies caused by error, miscommunication, and the fog of war.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Debunking Candace Owens’ Lies About Israel Attacking the USS Liberty first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Northwestern University Touts Progress on Addressing Campus Antisemitism Amid Federal Scrutiny
Signs cover the fence at a pro-Palestinian encampment at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. on April 28, 2024. Photo: Max Herman via Reuters Connect.
Northwestern University on Monday touted its progress in addressing the campus antisemitism crisis, issuing a statement containing a checklist of policies it has enacted since being censured by federal lawmakers over its handling of pro-Hamas demonstrations which convulsed its campus during the 2023-2024 academic year.
“The university administration took this criticism to heart and spent much of last summer revising our rules and policies to make our university safe for all of our students, regardless of their religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, or political viewpoint,” the statement said. “Among the updated policies is our Demonstration Policy, which includes new requirements and guidance on how, when, and where members of the community may protest or otherwise engage in expressive activity.”
The university added that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.
“This included a live training for all new students in September and a 17-minute training module for all enrolled students, produced in collaboration with the Jewish United Fund,” it continued. “Antisemitism trainings will continue as a permanent part of our broader training in civil rights and Title IX.”
Other initiatives rolled out by the university include an Advisory Council to the President on Jewish Life, dinners for Jewish students hosted by administrative officials, and educational events which raise awareness of rising antisemitism in the US and across the world. Additionally, Northwestern said that it imposed disciplinary sanctions against several students and one staff member whose conduct violated the new “Demonstration and/or Display Policies” which regulate peaceful assembly on the campus.
“In closing, although Northwestern has made significant progress in the fight against antisemitism on campus, the university remains vigilant and will continue to do what is necessary to make our campus safe,” the statement concluded. “Importantly, the fight against antisemitism is NOT [sic] a zero-sum game. All members of our communities on campus — all religions, races, national origins, genders, sexual orientations, and political viewpoints — deserve to feel safe and know that our rules will be enforced to protect them against hate, discrimination, harassment, and intimidation. Northwestern is committed to this principle.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Northwestern University struggled for months to correct an impression that it coddled pro-Hamas protesters and acceded to their demands for a boycott of Israel in exchange for an end to their May 2024 encampment.
University president Schill denied during a US congressional hearing held that year that he had capitulated to any demand that fostered a hostile environment, but his critics noted that part of the deal to end the encampment stipulated his establishing a scholarship for Palestinian undergraduates, contacting potential employers of students who caused recent campus disruptions to insist on their being hired, creating a segregated dormitory hall that will be occupied exclusively by students of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim descent, and forming a new advisory committee in which anti-Zionists students and faculty may wield an outsized voice.
The status of those concessions, which a law firm representing the civil rights advocacy group StandWithUs described as “outrageous” in July 2024, were not disclosed in Monday’s statement.
Northwestern University is not the only school creating distance between itself and the anti-Zionist movement, a step many colleges have taken in response to US President Donald Trump’s vowing to cut the flow of taxpayer funds supplementing their budgets should they refuse to crackdown down on illegal protests and antisemitism. Following the Trump administration’s cancelling of over $400 million in federals contracts and grants awarded to Columbia University, former interim president Katrina Armstrong proposed a list of reforms the school would agree to undertake — in areas ranging from undergraduate admissions to campus security — to restore the funds.
Armstrong later resigned from her position, saying in a statement which explained the decision that she wishes to return to her role as executive director of the university’s Irving Medical Center, as well as several other positions she holds.
Meanwhile, Harvard University recently fired a librarian whom someone filmed ripping posters of the Bibas children, two babies murdered in captivity by Hamas, off a kiosk in Harvard Yard and denounced him as “hateful.” Additionally, it paused a partnership with a higher education institution located in the West Bank, a move for which prominent members of the Harvard community and federal lawmakers had clamored in a series of public statements. The Trump administration initiated a review of $9 billion in taxpayer funds it receives anyway, prompting interim president Alan Garber to defend Harvard’s handling of the issue.
“For the past fifteen months, we have devoted considerable effort to addressing antisemitism,” Garber said. “We have strengthened our rules and our approach to disciplining those who violate them. We have enhanced training and education on antisemitism across our campus and introduced measures to support our Jewish community and ensure student safety and security.”
Northwestern University is in the Trump administration’s crosshairs too. It is one of 60 universities being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over its handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.
“The department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite US campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in March. “US colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by US taxpayers. That support is a privilege, and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Pressure Mounts on UN Members to Block Reappointment of Controversial Anti-Israel Official
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The United Nations is facing growing pressure to block the reappointment of Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who has an extensive history of using her role to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize the terrorist group Hamas’s attacks against the Jewish state.
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is set to reappoint Albanese for another three-year term on Friday, despite calls from several countries and NGOs urging UN members to oppose her reappointment due to her controversial remarks and alleged pro-Hamas stance.
Since taking on the role of UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories in 2022, Albanese has been at the center of controversy due to what critics, including US and European lawmakers, have described as antisemitic and anti-Israel public remarks.
In the months following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities, across southern Israel, Albanese accused Israel of perpetrating a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in revenge for the attacks and circulated a widely derided and heavily disputed report alleging that 186,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli actions.
She has also previously made comments about a “Jewish lobby” controlling America and Europe, compared Israel to Nazi Germany, and stated that Hamas’s violence against Israelis — including rape, murder, and kidnapping — needs to be “put in context.”
Last year, the United Nations launched a probe into Albanese for allegedly accepting a trip to Australia funded by pro-Hamas organizations.
In the past, she has also celebrated the anti-Israel protesters rampaging across US college campuses, saying they represent a “revolution” and that they give her “hope.”
On Monday, US Rep. Brian Mast, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the president of the UNHRC, Ambassador Jürg Lauber, to express his strong opposition to Albanese’s reappointment.
In the letter, Mast claimed that Albanese has failed to act “in an independent capacity with a professional, impartial assessment, and maintain the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.”
“Ms. Albanese unapologetically uses her position as a UN special rapporteur to purvey and attempt to legitimize antisemitic tropes, while serving as a Hamas apologist,” the letter read.
“In her malicious fixation, she has even called for Israel to be removed from the United Nations while likening Israel to apartheid South Africa,” Mast wrote in a letter signed by six fellow lawmakers. “Regrettably, Ms. Albanese’s rhetoric has perverted the very institution and its foundational principles in which she was appointed to serve.”
Governments worldwide, including France, the UK, Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands, have condemned her statements as antisemitic and urged that she not be given another term in her role.
Last month, 42 members of the French Parliament publicly urged the government to oppose Albanese’s reappointment, arguing that it “would send a regrettable signal to victims, human rights defenders, and states committed to credible multilateralism.”
This week, British Labour Member of Parliament David Taylor also objected to Albanese’s reappointment, saying “there is no place for such alleged antisemitism on the international stage.”
“Albanese’s response to the largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century was to describe it as ‘a response to Israel’s oppression,’” Taylor told the Jewish Chronicle. “She described Israel as being a ‘settler colonial conquest.’”
“Making statements of this nature in a UN capacity is abhorrent and does so much damage to communities already torn apart by horrific violence, going against everything the United Nations stands for,” Taylor said.
Human rights groups and NGOs have also campaigned to prevent the anti-Israel rapporteur from receiving a second term.
UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO, has organized a petition against her reappointment, which has garnered over 83,000 signatures.
Last month, Maram Stern, executive vice president of the World Jewish Congress, sent a letter to the president of the UNHRC urging him to reject the renewal of Albanese’s mandate, citing what she described as the UN official’s history of anti-Israel animus and antisemitic statements.
“Ms. Albanese has repeatedly made public remarks that propagate harmful antisemitic tropes, question the legitimacy of the State of Israel, and employ rhetoric that undermines the credibility of the Human Rights Council itself,” the letter read. “Her persistent lack of objectivity and failure to uphold a balanced and impartial approach required of her as special rapporteur compromises her credibility as an independent expert.”
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) also urged UN Members to reject Albanese’s second term, saying she “has systematically demonstrated a troubling pattern of conduct and expression that is incompatible with the responsibilities, neutrality, and integrity expected of a UN special rapporteur.”
“Her actions not only betray the victims of terrorism and antisemitism but also are a stain on the credibility of the Human Rights Council itself,” the AJC wrote in a letter.
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Three Jewish Coaches Lead Teams in NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four
Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden and Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl talk before the game as Auburn Tigers take on Florida Gators at Neville Arena in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
The men’s 2025 NCAA Tournament Final Four bracket includes four No. 1 seed teams, three of which have Jewish coaches who will lead the way in the two national semifinals taking place on Saturday.
Auburn University Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl has contributed Auburn’s success in the NCAA in part to God and his Jewish faith. He described Israel as the “ancestral homeland for the Jewish people” and called for the release of American-Israeli Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity at a post-game conference last month. He also took the Auburn team on a trip to Israel, where they made stops at the Western Wall and Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center.
The Tigers will compete on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament Final Four against the Florida Gators whose Jewish coach, Todd Golden, is an Israeli citizen who previously played two years professionally for Maccabi Haifa in Israel.
In 2009, Golden was co-captain of the USA Open Team, coached by Pearl, that won gold at the Maccabiah Games, which is an international multi-sport event for Jewish and Israeli athletes. Golden has been the coach of the Tigers for two seasons, but prior to that he was the assistant coach at Columbia, the head coach at San Francisco, and even worked under Pearl. Golden was director of basketball operations for the Auburn staff for the 2014-15 season and was promoted to assistant coach for the 2015-16 campaign.
Duke and Houston also play each other on Saturday in the Final Four. The head coach of the Duke Blue Devils, Jon Scheyer, also formerly played in Israel and holds Israeli citizenship. He played professionally for Maccabi Tel Aviv from 2011-12. In October 2023, not long after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Scheyer commented on the conflict and said in part: “My heart breaks for the people in Israel — that have hostages, American lives that are taken, mourning loved ones.” Scheyer is leading Duke to the Final Four in only his third year as head coach.
The Houston Cougars – the fourth men’s team competing in the Final Four – do not have a Jewish coach, but they have a player who was born in Israel and played for Israel’s national youth squad. Guard Emanuel Sharp, who is the son of Derrick Sharp, was part of Israel’s under-16 national basketball team and also played for Maccabi Tel Aviv for over a decade.
This year’s Final Four have a combined record of 135-16. Since seeding began in 1979, this is only the second time in history that all four No. 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four. It previously happened in 2008. Larry Brown was the last Jewish coach to win the NCAA Tournament when he led Kansas to the victory in 1988.
The 2025 NCAA Tournament Final Four begins on Saturday, with two national semifinals taking place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, and ends on Monday with the national championship.
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