The Israeli Military intentionally attacked the USS Liberty

Intentionality Firstly, I'll highlight that the Liberty was not formally identified by Israel to the extent of its presence and nationality being an established fact that was understood by all components of the IDF and more specifically the Air and Naval forces that were directly involved. The mis-communication, as has been emphasized throughout my entire argument, was in fact one of the largest factors in why the attack occurred. Such miscommunications start off with the U.S' failure to inform Israel (as Yitzhak Rabin had explicitly ordered to the U.S. Naval Attaché in Tel Aviv) if it planned on deploying ships within the Sinai area and to outline their exact positioning. However, the U.S clearly failed to oversee. Another significant U.S error was the fact that radio transmissions sent by the JCS to the Liberty, instructing it to stay 100 miles away from Israel and Egypt, were not received by the ship until after the attack had taken place. Israeli errors can again be found in the Liberty not being officially identified by the entire IDF unit. There still remains the case that two pilots were heard clearly stating they could identify no flag during the incident. As also outlined, Yitzhak Rabin had told the U.S Naval Attaché that any unidentified ship would be sunk. Which isn't exactly something that would be said if Israel was indeed planning on attacking an a U.S ship. As soon as the IDF had realized their mistake and established its identity, the attack was stopped and immediate assistance was offered, as well as the later financial compensation that Israel offered to survivors and victims families, and towards damage costs of the ship. Israeli Air Force reports that were made make no further reference to any ship in the area that was suspected as American or established as American. The only thing that would've been high on Israel's agenda on the day of the attack was Egyptian submarines, that had been seen off the coast at 11:AM and were actually what the Israeli Air Forces were initially looking for. Soon after at 11:24 AM, the explosion off the el-Arish coast had been heard, thus alerting the Israeli forces and indicating that the coast was again being shelled by Egyptian forces; as it had been the day previously. I'll point out again that this explosion had also been observed by those aboard the Liberty, who noted thick black smoke coming towards them. The IDF Southern command then reported seeing two unidentified vessels close offshore, causing further concern. When news of possible naval bombardment reached IDF General Staff Headquarters in Tel Aviv, Yitzhak Rabin reiterated the orders to sink any unidentified ships in the area, with two being reported at that point. More than half an hour had passed in the duration in between the Air and Naval forces locating to Al-Arish, which promoted the General Staff to respond with: “The coast is being shelled and you—the navy—have done nothing.” Captain Izzy Rahav, who had took over from Captain Lutz, then decided to send out three torpedo boats to the vessel(s) believed to be responsible for causing the explosions. Ensign Aharon Yifrah, a combat information officer aboard one of the torpedo boats (T-204), had then informed its Captain Moshe Oren that again an unidentified ship had been noticed northeast of el-Arish at a range of 22 miles. The ship was said to be sailing towards Egypt at a speed of 30 knots, Yifrah estimated. This assessment, which happened to be twice recalculated, was extremely important in regards to the fact that the Liberty, could apparently only travel at a maximum speed of 18 knots and is what further lead to the Israelis believing that the ship was indeed an enemy one. Upon hearing the news Captain Rahav then alerted the Air force, and two Mirage jet fighters were sent out to the area. Alluding again to any identification of flag on the ship, when asked by General Motti Hod whether he could see a flag, Yiftah Spector responded with a clear "negative". Onto further rebuttals, Pro states that the division commandeer was in fact made aware however most of Pros information applies only to the sustained number of hours leading up to the attack, not just before or while the attack was taking place; which I'd contest is when information is most relevant. The fact that Pro states the vessel was marked with red (meaning unidentified target) in no way negates my argument. It would also seem evident that again, the Liberty was not officially identified in the respect that it had specifically been written down or relayed to Yitzhak Rabin or the IDF, particularly those who were directly involved in the attack. I'll reiterate to Pro that its the details surrounding the attack just before that bare the most significance. I'll briefly summarize why:-An explosion was heard was heard in el-Arish (the same location as the Liberty), making it suspected of shelling. -Two unidentified vessels were reported. -Orders were repeated to sink any unidentified ships. -One unidentified vessel was noted by Aharon Yifrah at going a speed of 30 knots, while the Liberty was said to only said to have a maximum of 18. -No flag was formally identified. Such facts, particularly when combined, make it again entirely feasible how the attack could have been unintentional. Pro appears to be placing much emphasis on the division commander being told by his deputy that an American ship was identified, however, I'd note again that the only real Israeli information concerning the Liberty was when it was marked as unidentified approximately five hours before the attack, and that there had been brief suggestion of an American ship operating in the area. It's important to note that it was not definitive or officially conveyed to the rest of the IDF. An explosion was still heard off the coast of Sinai, and unidentified vessels reaching knots that were beyond their limit were still reported , with the Liberty being one. Israeli Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin, arguably the most "high ranking" officer at the time, clearly deemed it necessary to respond to suspected shelling off the al-Arish coast and was evidently not made aware that an American ship was operating directly in that area, something that he had previously asked the U.S to ensure. If Rabin did have full knowledge of the Liberty presence within that exact vicinity and if the Liberty was formally identified by the Air and Naval forces there at the time, the outcome of the Liberty incident would've most likely been very different. Once again my sources are all relevant to the debate and all support my points for each round, according to where my arguments are placed. I have used official reports and references to the Liberty incident, therefore all sources apply. Pros own argument largely revolves around survivor testimony, something evident in his own sources. Likewise, the declassified NSA documents do not necessarily confirm or lead to anything definitive surrounding the attack. The first NSA link used by Pro entitled "Attack on a Sigint Collector, the U.S.S. Liberty" first only delves into the details surrounding the ships deployment and the technical factors involved. It also strongly supports one of my own main points in highlighting that there were "directions to withdraw the Liberty" and that the "the JCS/JRC made a new assessment of the danger inherent in the Liberty's operations. JRC considered the distance of the Liberty from the Sixth Fleet, some 300 to 400 miles". More importantly, it states that the message sent out by the JCS instructing the Liberty to keep within a certain distance of Israel and Egypt, was not delivered to the ship until after the incident due to an error made by the Department of Army Communications, who had wrongly delivered it to the Naval Communications Station in the Pacific. The exact words: "Although a copy of the message was to have gone to the Liberty, it would not reach the ship prior to the attack."U.S Flag Pro states that he has listed a "ton" of witness testimony from Liberty survivors all noting that the U.S flag was clearly visible. However, I have also provided my own Israeli evidences in which those involved in the Air attacks observed no visible flag and explicitly stated so. I have also outlined that no U.S flag was reported by any of the Israeli aircraft that flown over the same area hours prior to the attack. The only information outlined by the Liberty was that it was "gray", "bulky", "with its bridge amidships". One major contradiction concerning the U.S flag can be found in the account of James Ennes, a Liberty survivor. In his book he argues that it would have been impossible for Cap. McGonagle to recognize the flags and markings on the Israeli boats. "McGonagle must have been mistaken about sighting the Israeli flag at this point in the attack. For one thing, it would have been practically impossible to identify a tiny and wildly fluttering Star of David a mile away, particularly since any flags displayed by the torpedo boats would have streamed back, away from McGonagle and out of his line of sight." (Assault on the Liberty, p 149)Another similar contradiction is that Lt. Painter claimed the jets were "unmarked", while signalman Russell David states that he saw visible Israeli markings on the jets. Given this particular statement, who is to doubt that that Israel would have seen the U.S flag from a mile away? The fact there is disagreement over whether the Israeli flag could be seen, naturally it should also be questioned whether the same applies to the U.S flag. As for Pros assertion regarding alleged Israeli jamming of Liberty frequencies, there is absolutely no definitive evidence in support of this. In fact such a claim can be attributed to survivor testimony only, namely James Ennes himself. Technically the Israelis trying to jam the outgoing signals is impossible, as the Liberty would have been able to send its distress signals regardless of any attempted jamming.