Israel’s 1967 Blitzkrieg,
Its Early Victims and Coverups

Three books convey the frustration and terror of observing the beginning of the 1967 blitzkrieg, when Israel's troops invaded Egypt, seizing the Sinai and Suez Canal, and invaded Syria, seizing the Golan Heights. They also invaded and seized the last of the Palestinian territories then administered by Jordan and Egypt, as well as Arab East Jerusalem. By more than doubling Israel's territory, they fulfilled the demand of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan in 1952 that "it lies upon the Israeli army to carry out the fight with the ultimate object of erecting the Israeli Empire."

The books are: Assault on the Liberty by Lt.James M. Ennes, Jr. (1980); Chapter 6 - "The Assault on 'Assault'" in They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby by Paul Findley (1985,89); and Chapter 7 -"Blood" in Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency by James Bamford (2001,02). From them we learn--

"On 5 June 1967 Israel launched virtually its entire air force against Egyptian airfields, destroying, within eighty minutes, the majority of Egypt's air power. On the ground, tanks pushed out in three directions across the Sinai toward the Suez Canal. Fighting was also initiated along the Jordanian and Syrian borders. Simultaneously, Israeli officials put out false reports to the press saying that Egypt had launched a major attack against them and that they were defending themselves." (Body of Secrets)

In May 1967 Israeli officials told Washington that Pres. Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt (U.A.R.) was preparing to launch a war against them. (Menachem Begin admitted in 1982 that Israel in fact decided to attack Egypt.) Because of the heightened tension, the U.S. positioned one of its half dozen electronic surveillance ships, the U.S.S. Liberty with Arabic- and Russian-speaking linguists, in international waters off El Arish in the Sinai near the border with Israel. On 8 June, three days after launching its war, Israeli reconnaissance planes flew by the Liberty a dozen times over a period of 6 hours easily seeing its name in 12-foot letters and the American flag being flown.

According to the C.I.A., Dayan issued the order to attack, which began at noon. Three torpedo boats from Ashdod set out for the Liberty, about 50 miles away. Air force fighters, loaded with 30mm cannon ammunition, rockets, and even napalm then followed. The attack began at 1:41 p.m.

One torpedo hit the ship, blowing a hole in it the size of a bus, and it suffered 800 holes in the hull. Thirty-two of the crew including the executive officer were killed (two others died later) and 171 including Commander William L. McGonagle were wounded and most of its equipment was destroyed. (Read the painful details by Ennis and Bamford.)

At Israel’s request, President Johnson (who appeared more concerned about the loss of electronic equipment than of the American crew) and the Pentagon ordered a "disgraceful" (Bamford's words) coverup. These books provide details about the coverup and harassment of Lieutenant Ennes in his attempt to publish his book. Without issuing an apology, Israel later paid compensation to the wounded and families of those killed. Although the U.S.Government asked for only a token $7.6 million in compensation for Israel's destruction of the Liberty (on which $30 million had been spent in preparing it for surveillance work), not until 1980 -- and only after Israel bargained the figure down -- did it pay $6 million. Meanwhile, the U.S. tax payers’ subsidy of that country’s government is aggregating $100,000,000,000.

Bamford’s book also reveals some other disquieting information. The Israeli troops methodically slaughtered hundreds of Egyptian prisoners of war. In the Gaza Strip they annihilated a convoy of Indian peacekeepers who were flying the blue United Nations flag and had pulled to the side of the road to let the Israeli tanks go by. Their tanks also blasted the U.N. headquarters in Gaza, which was also flying the U.N. flag. -- By John O. Sutter.