"Holocaust on the High Seas: USS Liberty Betrayed"

When it comes to the writing of history, it is much more convenient to tell lies, publish with a major firm, and make a comfortable amount of money; the road less travelled, is to tell the truth, self-publish, and make a few pennies on the dollar, pushing a book that will be little advertised and hardly read. Phillip Tourney’s book, Holocaust on the High Seas: An eyewitness account of Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty, is an attempt to tell the truth. He gives the reader a synopsis of the book’s thesis on the back cover:

In this explosive, first-hand account of Israel’s vicious, premeditated attack on the virtually unarmed intelligence-gathering vessel USS Liberty (AGTR-5) in the Mediterranean Sea in international waters on June 8, 1967- the fourth day of the Six Day War- survivor Phil Tourney describes in vivid detail the horror of that day and its aftermath, and tells the true story that the Zionist state and its supporters, the entire apparatus of the US government, and their coconspirators in the media have kept hidden for over 50 years.¹

The Six Day war occurred in June of 1967, and it was an Israeli attempt to beat back the Arab armies which it felt had threatened the Sinai Peninsula, the “West Bank,” (Judea and Samaria), and the Golan Heights. The USS Liberty incident is apparently unrelated to the war. As an ally of Israel, the USS Liberty was an intelligence gathering vessel, relatively unarmed, which was situated 15.5 miles north of Sinai in the Mediterranean Sea. The Liberty was attacked in broad daylight (2pm) by three Israeli motor torpedo boats (MTBs), as well as aircraft. Miraculously the Liberty did not sink after being torpedoed.

The 1971 Encyclopedia Judaica, published by Macmillan, devotes ten pages to the Six Day War. Never is any mention made of the attack on the Liberty. Even if the attack were a case of mistaken identity, one should expect that the incident would be “newsworthy” material for the editors of the Encyclopedia. It is the only time, as far as we know, that an Israeli gunship fired upon a US vessel. Mr. Tourney quotes the retired U.S. admiral, Thomas Moorer, who later said of the incident:

I have never believed that the attack on the USS Liberty was a case of mistaken identity. That is ridiculous. Israel knew perfectly well that the ship was American. After all, the Liberty’s American flag and markings were in full view in perfect visibility for the Israeli aircraft that overflew the ship eight times over a period of nearly eight hours prior to the attack. I have to conclude that it was Israel’s intent to sink the Liberty and leave as few survivors as possible.²

The ship was officially under the command of Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Admiral John Sidney “Slew” McCain (d. 1945), the father of the late Senator John McCain of Arizona. Tourney says that several days before the attack, command of the vessel had been transferred from Admiral McCain to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose chief was Gen. Earle Wheeler. Tourney theorizes the reason for this transfer of power:

With only a handful of people involved, it would be easier to keep secrets as opposed to it being part of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, where literally, thousands of people were involved.³

After the vessel had been stricken by a torpedo, and had taken rounds from the Israeli fighter planes, Tourney was forced to become a “20-year-old kid in charge of Damage Control Forward, on a ship that had just suffered (at least) 75% casualties.”⁴ He, together with his other surviving shipmates, at first thought the attack was perpetrated by the Arabs, but much to their horror, realized that it was Israeli “not-so-friendly fire.” The shipmates began arguing amongst themselves as to whether the vessel had been attacked by the Arabs or some other foreign actor; after all, initially not all the shipmates had seen what Tourney witnessed. That the ship did not sink after being torpedoed, he believed, was nothing short of a miracle. He distinctly remembered one man in the mess hall, right as the ship had been hit, praying with a rosary in his hand.

With the ship not having been sunk, the Israelis then sent an Aerospatiale SA 321 Super Frelon helicopter which was filled with commandos. Tourney describes the experience:

As the helicopter hovered over us at about 50’ over the deck, I could see my worst suspicions had been correct…there were commandos on board, special forces, armed with submachineguns used for close-quarter combat…I saw the troops inside were preparing to board the ship…And so, the only thing I could do in that moment in letting my killers know what I thought about what they had done to my ship, to my friends and to my country, was to give them the finger. The one Israeli with whom I had locked eyes, merely chuckled at the sight of seeing something as impotent and harmless as my middle finger, and in the midst of all his machinegun-toting buddies, he simply smiled and gave me the finger back. Suddenly, without any apparent reason or warning, the helicopter hauled ass out of there like a vampire being exposed to sunlight.⁵

Betrayed by an Admiral

Christ had his betrayer, Judas, who held the rank of bishop; the USS Liberty had its betrayer, Isaac C. Kidd, Jr., who held the rank of admiral. The admiral met with small groups of sailors individually, listening to them with care, only to then threaten them individually. We end with a direct quote which Admiral Kidd gave to Tourney along with a couple of other sailors, after they had spilled the beans that it was indeed Israel which had attacked the vessel:

You are NEVER to repeat what you have told me to anyone- not your mother, your father, your wife- ANYONE, including your shipmates. You are not to discuss this with anyone, and especially- ESPECIALLY- not with the media, or you will end up in my little prison, or worse.⁶

Post Scriptum

As an aside, the Six Day War was nothing more than the result of an ongoing conflict which always existed between the Jews and the Arabs (mainly Muslim), a conflict which cannot be solved by any human means; no human organization can remedy the mutual hatred existing between the Jews and Arabs. This animosity reaches all the way back to the seventh century, to Mohammed himself.

There can exist no real charity between them. There is natural charity, distinguished from supernatural charity, which can only be had by means of the Catholic Church, the dispenser of the sacraments. We repeat, the Jews and Muslims, because they are not baptized, cannot possess the supernatural gift of charity, hence they cannot “love their enemies” as Christ commanded. The book by Fr. J.L. Menezes, The Life and Religion of Mohammed: The Prophet of Arabia (1911), is suggested reading concerning this topic of the Jewish/Moslem conflict in its historical context.

1. Holocaust on the High Seas: An Eyewitness Account of Israel’s 1967 Attack on the USS Liberty. Phillip F. Tourney. Rockstar Publishing. 2020.

2. Holocaust on the High Seas: An Eyewitness Account of Israel’s 1967 Attack on the USS Liberty. Phillip F. Tourney. Rockstar Publishing. 2020. pg. 116.

3. ibid. pg. 14.

4. ibid. pg. 29.

5. ibid. pg. 34.

6. ibid. pg. 63.