Mr. Speaker, Mark Twain famously said that one of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives. This is certainly the case with respect to one of the most persistent slanders against the State of Israel: the contention that on June 8, 1967, the Israel Defense Forces intentionally attacked a U.S. Naval Intelligence vessel, the USS Liberty.
Fortunately that lie has been put to rest once and for all by the careful and exhaustive research of the Honorable A. Jay Cristol, a distinguished judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. His careful research of the Liberty incident clearly demonstrates that this tragedy was the result of mistaken identity at the height of the Six Day War, when Israel's very survival was at stake.
This conclusion is in line with the conclusions of 10 official U.S. investigations--including five congressional investigations--that there was never any evidence that the attack was made with knowledge that the target was a U.S. ship. There is substantial evidence the attack was a tragic mistake caused by errors on the part of both the U.S. and Israel.
On June 8,1967, at the height of the Six Day War, a U.S. Naval intelligence vessel, the USS Liberty, strayed into the waters 14 miles off the Sinai Peninsula, near El Arish. The Israel Defense Forces, having incorrectly identified it as an Egyptian vessel engaged in an attack of Israeli forces, attacked the Liberty, killing and wounding some of the crew.
As a U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry found, ``Available evidence combines to indicate that the attack on LIBERTY on 8 June was in fact a case of mistaken identity.''
No one with an open mind can read the evidence amassed by Judge Cristol and reach any other conclusion. Nonetheless, the conspiracy theories persist.
Conspiracy theories tend to have a life of their own. They can never be disproved. If there is no evidence supporting the conspiracy, then it is proof of a coverup. If there is evidence proving there was no conspiracy, that is also proof of a coverup. Either way, evidence disproving a conspiracy theory only proves to believers that the conspiracy really exists.
No one denies that this incident was a terrible tragedy, but some have sought to exploit a case of mistaken identity by insisting that the Israeli military knew that the Liberty was a U.S. naval vessel, and attacked it on purpose. Despite the complete absence of any credible evidence to support this outrageous claim, it continues to be repeated as if it were true.
Judge Cristol has done a tremendous service with his work. It is my hope that his book, ``The Liberty Incident: The 1967 Attack on the U.S. Navy Spy Ship,'' which was the result of more than 14 years of research, will finally lay to rest this slander against one of our Nation's most reliable allies.