Yep...real easy to confuse the two...especially by some of the best trained pilots in the world.
And: if there was a benefit, why would you let the vessel escape and abandon any chance of covering it up?
Under no rational model does the conspiracy theory survive.
What I find most interesting about those who accuse Israel of apartheid is not how little they know about Israel, but how little they know about apartheid.
A+Bert would have a tizzy if you presented these facts to him. To him, not only was the attack on The Liberty deliberate, but it was the only military campaign that ever happened against America — 9/11 included.
I note that no one has answered your question about what Israel would gain by intentionally attacking an ally.
A+Bert, RCW2001, etc. - those were some vitriolic threads.
Yes, there was something to be gained.
At that time, the US was not that supportive of Israel and certainly not of any offensive action by Israel; at the time we had actually embargoed Israel. The USS Liberty was a “technical research ship,” i.e. a spy ship.
On June 7&8 the Israelis were planning an attack against the Golan Heights. The Israels did not know how much SigInt had been collected by the USS Liberty, or what type. But they may have feared that if the intelligence collected by the Liberty were provided to the Arabs it could cause the attack to fail disastrously.
The threat was removed when the USS Liberty was crippled. The attack on the Golan Heights was a success.
That is a possible motive for a deliberate attack on the USS Liberty.
>> “Like most conspiracy theories, you simply need to apply the test of logic: what possible benefit was there to Israel in attacking an ally’s vessel intentionally?” <<
.
The problem was that the Liberty didn’t belong there, and were we really an ally, it would not have been there.
The Johnson admin was much like the Carter and Clinton admins to come. They would have done anything they could to assist the arab assault, and the potential to do that was the reason that the Liberty was sent there.
Democrats cannot be for freedom; they detest it. They cannot be for Yeshua; they detest him.
There is no consipracy about it. The USS Liberty was delibrately attacked. You don't attack a ship flying a US flag for an hour by mistake. That's why the dwindling people supporting Israel's story over the US sailors are using a new spin "Hey They were SPYING" (which probably is not a road they want to go down).