Israel Attack
On the afternoon of 8 June 1967, while in international waters off the northern coast of the Sinai Peninsula, Liberty was attacked and damaged by the Israel Defense Forces; 34 crewmen were killed and 173 wounded. Although severely damaged with a 39-foot-wide (12 m) by 24-foot-high (7.3 m) hole amidships and a twisted keel, Liberty’s crew kept her afloat, and she was able to leave the area under her own power.
The incident has become a subject of controversy and debate, with many books written on the topic.
Read more about this topic: USS Liberty (AGTR-5)
Famous quotes containing the words israel and/or attack:
“For in the division of the nations of the whole earth he set a ruler over every people; but Israel is the Lord’s portion: whom, being his firstborn, he nourisheth with discipline, and giving him the light of his love doth not forsake him. Therefore all their works are as the sun before him, and his eyes are continually upon their ways.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus 17:17-9.
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched seabeams glitter in the dark near the Tennhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. Time to die.”
—David Webb Peoples, U.S. screenwriter, and Ridley Scott. Roy Batty, Blade Runner, final words before dying—as an android he had a built-in life span that expired (1982)