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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.
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Harvard Faculty Oppose Deal With Trump, Distancing From Hamas Apologists: Crimson Poll
Harvard University president Alan Garber attending the 373rd Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, May 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
A recently published Harvard Crimson poll of over 1,400 Harvard faculty revealed sweeping opposition to interim university President Alan Garber’s efforts to strike a deal with the federal government to restore $3 billion in research grants and contracts it froze during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration.
In the survey, conducted from April 23 to May 12, 71 percent of arts and sciences faculty oppose negotiating a settlement with the administration, which may include concessions conservatives have long sought from elite higher education, such as meritocratic admissions, viewpoint diversity, and severe disciplinary sanctions imposed on students who stage unauthorized protests that disrupt academic life.
Additionally, 64 percent “strongly disagree” with shuttering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, 73 percent oppose rejecting foreign applicants who hold anti-American beliefs which are “hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence,” and 70 percent strongly disagree with revoking school recognition from pro-Hamas groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC).
“More than 98 percent of faculty who responded to the survey supported the university’s decision to sue the White House,” The Crimson reported. “The same percentage backed Harvard’s public rejection of the sweeping conditions that the administration set for maintaining the funds — terms that included external audits of Harvard’s hiring practices and the disciplining of student protesters.”
Alyza Lewin of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law told The Algemeiner that the poll results indicate that Harvard University will continue to struggle to address campus antisemitism on campus, as there is now data showing that its faculty reject the notion of excising intellectualized antisemitism from the university.
“If you, for example, have faculty teaching courses that are regularly denying that the Jews are a people and erasing the Jewish people’s history in the land of Israel, that’s going to undermine your efforts to address the antisemitism on your campus,” Lewin explained. “When Israel is being treated as the ‘collective Jew,’ when the conversation is not about Israel’s policies, when the criticism is not what the [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism] would call criticism of Israel similar to that against any other country, they have to understand that it is the demonization, delegitimization, and applying a double standard to Jews as individuals or to Israel.”
She added, “Faculty must recognize … the demonization, vilification, the shunning, and the marginalizing of Israelis, Jews, and Zionists, when it happens, as violations of the anti-discrimination policies they are legally and contractually obligated to observe.”
The Crimson survey results were published amid reports that Garber was working to reach a deal with the Trump administration that is palatable to all interested parties, including the university’s left-wing social milieu.
According to a June 26 report published by The Crimson, Garber held a phone call with major donors in which he “confirmed in response to a question from [Harvard Corporation Fellow David M. Rubenstein] that talks had resumed” but “declined to share specifics of how Harvard expected to settle with the White House.”
On June 30, the Trump administration issued Harvard a “notice of violation” of civil rights law following an investigation which examined how it responded to dozens of antisemitic incidents reported by Jewish students since the 2023-2024 academic year.
The correspondence, sent by the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, charged that Harvard willfully exposed Jewish students to a torrent of racist and antisemitic abuse following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, which precipitated a surge in anti-Zionist activity on the campus, both in the classroom and out of it.
“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” wrote the four federal officials comprising the multiagency Task Force. “Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”
The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Harvard again on Wednesday, reporting the institution to its accreditor for alleged civil rights violations resulting from its weak response to reports of antisemitic bullying, discrimination, and harassment following the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
Citing Harvard’s failure to treat antisemitism as seriously as it treated other forms of hatred in the past, The US Department of Educationthe called on the New England Commission of Higher Education to review and, potentially, revoke its accreditation — a designation which qualifies Harvard for federal funding and attests to the quality of the educational services its provides.
“Accrediting bodies play a significant role in preserving academic integrity and a campus culture conducive to truth seeking and learning,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Part of that is ensuring students are safe on campus and abiding by federal laws that guarantee educational opportunities to all students. By allowing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Balancing Act: Lebanese President Aoun Affirms Hope for Peace with Israel, Balks At Normalization
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday carefully affirmed his country’s desire for peace with Israel while cautioning that Beirut is not ready to normalize relations with its southern neighbor.
Aoun called for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, according to a statement from his office, while reaffirming his government’s efforts to uphold a state monopoly on arms amid mounting international pressure on the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah to disarm.
“The decision to restrict arms is final and there is no turning back on it,” Aoun said.
The Lebanese leader drew a clear distinction between pursuing peace and establishing formal normalization in his country’s relationship with the Jewish state.
“Peace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment,” Aoun said in a statement. “As for the issue of normalization, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy.”
Aoun’s latest comments come after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar expressed interest last month in normalizing ties with Lebanon and Syria — an effort Jerusalem says cannot proceed until Hezbollah is fully disarmed.
Earlier this week, Aoun sent his government’s response to a US-backed disarmament proposal as Washington and Jerusalem increased pressure on Lebanon to neutralize the terror group.
While the details remain confidential, US Special Envoy Thomas Barrack said he was “unbelievably satisfied” with their response.
This latest proposal, presented to Lebanese officials during Barrack’s visit on June 19, calls for Hezbollah to be fully disarmed within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from its five occupied posts in southern Lebanon.
However, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem vowed in a televised speech to keep the group’s weapons, rejecting Washington’s disarmament proposal.
“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” said Qassem, who succeeded longtime terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah after Israel killed him last year.
“We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region,” the terrorist leader continued. “We will not accept normalization [with Israel].”
Last fall, Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive, following the group’s attacks on Jerusalem — which they claimed were a show of solidarity with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas amid the war in Gaza.
In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.
Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.
However, Israel maintained troops at several posts in southern Lebanon beyond the ceasefire deadline, as its leaders aimed to reassure northern residents that it was safe to return home.
Jerusalem has continued carrying out strikes targeting remaining Hezbollah activity, with Israeli leaders accusing the group of maintaining combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers — calling this “blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
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Peace Meals: Chef José Andrés Says ‘Good People’ On Both Sides of Gaza Conflict Ill-Served By Leaders, Food Can Bridge Divide
Chef and head of World Central Kitchen Jose Andres attends the Milken Institute Global Conference 2025 in Beverly Hills, California, US, May 5, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Mike Blake.
Renowned Spanish chef and World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder José Andrés called the Oct. 7 attack “horrendous” in an interview Wednesday and shared his hopes for reconciliation between the “vast majority” on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide who are “good people that very often are not served well by their leaders”
WCK is a US-based, nonprofit organization that provides fresh meals to people in conflict zones around the world. The charity has been actively serving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel. Since the Hamas attack, WCK has served more than 133 million meals across Gaza, according to its website.
The restaurateur and humanitarian has been quoted saying in past interviews that “sometimes very big problems have very simple solutions.” On Wednesday’s episode of the Wall Street Journal podcast “Bold Names,” he was asked to elaborate on that thought. He responded by saying he believes good meals and good leaders can help resolve issues between Israelis and Palestinians, who, he believes, genuinely want to live harmoniously with each other.
“I had people in Gaza, mothers, women making bread,” he said. “Moments that you had of closeness they were telling you: ‘What Hamas did was wrong. I wouldn’t [want] anybody to do this to my children.’ And I had Israelis that even lost family members. They say, ‘I would love to go to Gaza to be next to the people to show them that we respect them …’ And this to me is very fascinating because it’s the reality.
“Maybe some people call me naive. [But] the vast majority of the people are good people that very often are not served well by their leaders. And the simple reality of recognizing that many truths can be true at the same time in the same phrase that what happened on October 7th was horrendous and was never supposed to happen. And that’s why World Central Kitchen was there next to the people in Israel feeding in the kibbutz from day one, and at the same time that I defended obviously the right of Israel to defend itself and to try to bring back the hostages. Equally, what is happening in Gaza is not supposed to be happening either.”
Andres noted that he supports Israel’s efforts to target Hamas terrorists but then seemingly accused Israel of “continuously” targeting children and civilians during its military operations against the terror group.
“We need leaders that believe in that, that believe in longer tables,” he concluded. “It’s so simple to invest in peace … It’s so simple to do good. It’s so simple to invest in a better tomorrow. Food is a solution to many of the issues we’re facing. Let’s hope that … one day in the Middle East it’ll be people just celebrating the cultures that sometimes if you look at what they eat, they seem all to eat exactly the same.”
In 2024, WCK fired at least 62 of its staff members in Gaza after Israel said they had ties to terrorist groups. In one case, Israel discovered that a WCK employee named Ahed Azmi Qdeih took part in the deadly Hamas rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Qdeih was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in November 2024.
In April 2024, the Israel Defense Forces received backlash for carrying out airstrikes on a WCK vehicle convoy which killed seven of the charity’s employees. Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said the airstrikes were “a mistake that followed a misidentification,” and Israel dismissed two senior officers as a result of the mishandled military operation.
The strikes “were not just some unfortunate mistake in the fog of war,” Andrés alleged.
“It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by” the Israeli military, he claimed in an op-ed published by Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. “It was also the direct result of [the Israeli] government’s policy to squeeze humanitarian aid to desperate levels.”
In a statement on X, Andres accused Israel of “indiscriminate killing,” saying the Jewish state “needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon.”
The post Peace Meals: Chef José Andrés Says ‘Good People’ On Both Sides of Gaza Conflict Ill-Served By Leaders, Food Can Bridge Divide first appeared on Algemeiner.com.