All accounts of this have lead me to believe this was an accident..that doesnt make it so tho. I cannot think of a single reason for Israel to attack a US war ship. Perhaps will will never really know but the conspiracy goons will have a field day as always with this story. RIP the 34.
One shot, fired by a scared sentry at night is an accident. Repeated attacks against an unknown vessel in international waters is either intentional or the worst form of indiscipline in combat.
What if that ship had been Swedish? or French? or Russian? Would Israel have reacted the same way as they did?
The part that makes me angry is that narrative after narrative pushes the blame on the US and the Liberty ("they were in a war zone"). No armed force in the world just attacks any ship they see, without conclusively identifying it as an enemy vessel. No disciplined armed force would continue attacks on a vessel that didn't fight back. Do Egyptian ships have vessel code letters in roman letters? Answer: no. Yet the IAF continued to attack when they saw that distinctly western lettering.
Like I said, it was either intentional or some of the sloppiest soldiering I've heard of - but not an accident. Israel still needs to come clean on this one.