One of the most intriguing maritime cover-ups is the USS Liberty incident, during which the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) launched a full-scale attack on a lone research ship, resulting in the death and injury of around 200 Americans.
In short,
[t]he USS Liberty Incident of 1967 was a result of Operation Cyanide, a failed false flag attack intended to sink the USS Liberty, a lightly armed US Navy signals intercept ship. At the time, the Israeli Air Force stated that the ship was mistakenly identified, despite its many radio antennas mounted on open decks and three large masts, including two large parabolic reflector antennas. During the Six Day War, the ship was subjected to a combined air and sea attack by Israel's Defense Forces but failed to sink as planned.
It is impossible that the incident was a case of mistaken identity or that the IDF simply got it wrong, as you will find out in the below conversation.
So, why did the attack happen?
Operation Cyanide, a secret US government plan in 1967, was going to be false flag attack on the USS Liberty and then blame it on Egypt. The goal was to create a pretext for attacking Egypt and overthrowing the regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Which didn't work.
'Israel deliberately attacked us'
The worst part is that the American president, Lyndon B Johnson, turned a blind eye because he didn't want to disrupt America's friendship with Israel.
I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. Their sustained attack to disable and sink Liberty precluded an assault by accident or some trigger-happy local commander. Through diplomatic channels we refused to accept their explanations. I didn't believe them then, and I don't believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous.
— Dean Rusk, former Secretary of State
