---
title: USS Liberty Incident
aliases:
  - USS Liberty Incident
  - USS Liberty attack
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-05-17
tags:
  - Event
  - Military
  - UnitedStates
  - Israel
category: "Major Conflict"
summary: "1967 attack on the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty by Israeli forces during the Six-Day War, killing 34 crew members and sparking enduring controversy."
start: 1967-06-08
location: "Eastern Mediterranean Sea"
---
The USS Liberty Incident refers to the attack on the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty by Israeli forces on June 8, 1967, the third day of the [[Six-Day War]]. The Liberty, flying the American flag, had been monitoring [[Middle East]] communications traffic in international waters off the coast of [[Israel]] and had been identified as an American ship before the attack. The incident resulted in the deaths of thirty-four American servicemen and wounded 171 others.[^1]

[[Walworth Barbour]], the American ambassador to Israel, urged [[Washington, D.C.]] to downplay the incident, reporting that Israel did not intend to admit to it and suggesting that publicity could feed Arab suspicions of U.S.-Israel collusion. He noted that the Israelis were "obviously shocked by error and tender sincere apologies."[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 12.