rita

[Andrew Fox @Mr_Andrew_Fox]

The Gaza war was fought with proportionality, outstanding protection of civilian life, and was started by Hamas.

[Wasson Watch Co. @WassonWatch]

"Now do the USS Liberty."

Every time Israel comes up, someone mentions the USS Liberty. Hey, even when Israel is not the topic, people bring it up. A lot of folks see it as some kind of ace-in-the-hole that proves without a shadow of a doubt that Israel is a raging enemy of the United States.

So, yeah, let's talk about the USS Liberty.

The USS Liberty was a US Navy technical research ship, which was sailing in the Mediterranean Sea near the Sinai Peninsula on June 8, 1967, two days after the start of the Six-Day War, in which Israel was attacked by a coalition of Arab states including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon (so all of its neighbors). It was mistakenly attacked by Israeli forces, which mistook it for an enemy Egyptian ship. The attack resulted significant casualties for the US Navy, including 34 killed, 171 wounded, and the ship heavily damaged.

Here's the story:

Several days BEFORE the war started, the Liberty was ordered to proceed to the eastern Mediterranean to perform signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection in international waters near the north coast of Sinai, Egypt. They were initially provided an allowable closest point of approach (CPA) of 12.5 nautical miles (NM) from Egypt and 6.5 NM from Israel, but once the war started they sent follow-on messages increasing those distances to 20 and 15 NM respectively, and again later to 100 NM from both countries, BUT DUE TO INEFFECTIVE MESSAGE HANDLING AND ROUTING, THESE MESSAGES WERE NOT RECEIVED UNTIL AFTER THE ATTACK.

So, the USS Liberty sailed right into the middle of a heavy, active war zone because of poor communication. This was a critical, deadly mistake, leading to the opportunity for further mistakes.

Between 0545 and 0940 the Liberty was spotted multiple times by different Israeli aircraft, and was marked on the Israeli Central Coastal Command (CCC) control table. However, the Liberty was on the move, and at 0545 it had started at 70 NM from Gaza, and later it was about 20 NM from Arish (on the northern coast of Sinai). With the movement of the vessel, and multiple hours without any sighting, it was removed from the CCC control board 1100 due to the positional information being considered out of date.

At 1124 it was reported that Arish was being shelled from the sea. This may have been due to exploding munitions that Egyptian forces had set on fire during their retreat.

Israeli torpedo boats and aircraft were dispatched to the area. Multiple reports were sent back about the Liberty, and it was unfortunately not identified as a US vessel at that time, and there were reports about other vessels coming through at the same time, which may have also been mixed up with reports about the Liberty.

Based on the available information, Israeli forces believed the USS Liberty was an Egyptian destroyer. At 1400 two Israeli Mirage III fighter jets were given permission to engage. They strafed the ship with their 30-mm cannons and rockets. In addition to killing as many as 8, and wounding 75, this initial attack unfortunately severed the ships antennas, and knocked down the flag, making accurate identification of the ship even less likely, and slowing the ability of the ship to communicate.

Over the proceeding 90 minutes there were several more attacks from the air and sea, resulting in significant damage to the Liberty and its crew, before the ship was positively identified as the USS Liberty at 1530.

At 1600, two hours after the attack started, and 30 minutes after its conclusion, Israel informed the US embassy in Tel Aviv that its forces had mistakenly attacked a US Navy ship. At 1640 the Israeli torpedo boats (which had been involved in the attack) returned to help, but were refused. Later Israel also provided a helicopter to fly US naval attache Commander Ernest Carl Castle to the Liberty.

Within hours apologies were sent by Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Foreign Minister Abba Eban, and charge d'affaires Ephraim Evron to President LBJ. Within 48 hours Israel offered to financially compensate the victims and their families.

This was a tragic incident of friendly fire, which is unfortunately all-too-common in war. Some have suggested over the years that it was an intentional attack by Israel, but there's simply not evidence to support that position, while there is significant evidence to the contrary:

- As soon as Israeli forces positively identified the Liberty, they ceased the attack, and immediately apologized
- Both the US and Israel conducted investigations afterwards concluded the attacks were not intentional
- NSA transcripts later showed that the Israeli personnel communicating about the ship believed it was Egyptian
- The attack happened while Israel was being attacked by multiple enemies, and was literally defending its very existence, which meant decisions had to be made quickly without all of the available information

One point some have made is that survivors of the attack felt like it was intentional. And that's their prerogative. Getting shot at doesn't feel good. It feels intentional, whether it is or not. In the instance where the USS Liberty was getting shot at, at that point it was intentional in the sense that the Israeli forces did not know they were American, but believing them to be Egyptian, they were trying to kill them. But the fact is, many people who experience friendly fire report feeling it is intentional.

And as I mentioned previously, friendly fire events are all-too-common. Here are just a few you might not be aware of:

1. Operation Cobra, Normandy, July 25, 1944 (World War II) - USAAF Eighth Air Force bombers mistakenly bombed US positions near Saint-Lo, France, killing 111, and wounding 490.
2. Gulf War, February 26-27, 1991 (Operation Desert Storm) - Multiple friendly fire incidents occurred resulting 35 Americans killed, 9 British killed, and 72 Americans/22 British wounded across 17 ground and 10 air incidents. One notable incident involved a US A-10 firing Maverick missiles on British armored vehicles.
3. Sicily Campaign, July 11, 1943 (World War II) - US anti-aircraft gunners fired on a formation of US C-47 transport planes carrying paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division, downing several aircraft, and killing between 23 and 37 troops (estimates vary), and wounding at least 60.

War is Hell, and friendly fire is part of that Hell. Multiple errors led to the USS Liberty being attacked, but the biggest was the failure in communication that resulted in the Liberty sailing right into the middle of an active warzone. That error cannot be underplayed.

However, the USS Liberty incident is a far cry from the "headshot" argument for why Israel is an evil enemy of the United States. Using it as such as frankly childish. It's baseless. And it's quite easily refuted if you simply look at what happened and weigh the evidence rationally.

Haters will read this and call me a "Zionist Shill" who "got the phone call" and on, and on, and on, but the truth is I just care about the truth. And no amount of baseless insults will ever change that.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

[Zac Goldsmith @ZacGoldsmith]

“What kind of a depraved monster slices off a woman’s breast while she is being gang raped, and throws it into the dust to be used as a plaything? What kind of a twisted pervert turns rape into necrophilia by shooting a woman in the head while he is still defiling her?
What kind of ‘freedom fighters’ go into battle with a set of handy Arabic-to-Hebrew phrases, including ‘take off your pants’, ‘lie down’, and ‘spread your legs’?
What self-respecting human being presses nails, scalpels, a hammer, an axe, screwdrivers and other household tools into a woman’s genitals?
How hard do you have to rape someone, and with what, to shatter their pelvis? Who shoots a young girl in the face and then films her mutilated corpse on her brother’s mobile phone?
The answer is: Hamas terrorists. This is the stark reality of what they did to men, women and children on October 7, 2023. And the world must never forget.”
@WestminsterWAG

[Buck Sexton @BuckSexton]

Israel doesn't train dogs to rape Palestinian inmates. That's a vicious, stupid lie pushed by a slimy little propagandist. But this newest blood libel is meant to distract you from the latest released evidence- including video recordings that *no credible person says are fake* of Palestinians doing the most sadistic, grotesque things imaginable on Oct 7- raping corpses while they are mutilating and murdering them, lighting genitals on fire, shooting out the eyes and genitals of helpless victims, forcing husbands to watch as their wives and children are raped and murdered-

And Palestinians did this on the *orders of their elected government* with months of planning to do exactly what they did. It wasn't spontaneous. The monstrous cruelty, the sexual degradation was the point. They knew Oct 7 wasn't going to win a war, or gain any territory. It was just an orgy of Jew hate and violence. The Palestinians were mass murdering, child rapist terrorists who did all this and were gleeful about it. They made phone calls boasting to their family members.

Did anyone in the Hamas government express remorse or regret about any of this? Or anywhere in Gaza? Of course not. They ordered it. They delighted in the extreme pain and cruelty of the Oct 7 operation against Jews.

So now some Americans, including ones who claim to be conservative, are taking the side of Hamas and claiming this was a genocide?

What do these people really think Israel was supposed to do in response to Oct 7?
Fight an imaginary "gentle" war?
No response at all?
Give up?

Childish thinking. Absurd moral preening. War is hell, but Hamas brought that hell upon Gaza.

[rita @_ritar_]

@FeedTechILUncen @AmitSegal yes

[rita @_ritar_]

@itzikbam @orreichert @GadiTaub1 התרגום פשוט לא נכון, ולא מעביר את .המסר
הכרזה מהממת (כבוד ליוצר 🙂) רק מזכירה לי את חדר האוכל בבית הספר הסובייטי. לא בטוחה שזו האסוציאציה שתרצו לעורר

[The Jerusalem Post @Jerusalem_Post]

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that the US conveyed to Iran via Ankara that its operation must be "within certain limits."

https://t.co/iG8Qr8WIYk

[Douglas Murray @DouglasKMurray]

How it started…

[rita @_ritar_]

@IbnAlwarraq Yohanan ben Zakkai's hard fork. first decentralized network built to survive

[Benito Cereno @donbenitocereno]

Israel is now eliminating Kantians. Hegel couldn’t do it, Schelling couldn’t do it, Fichte couldn’t do it. Bibi Netanyahu is going to complete the system of German Idealism.

[rita @_ritar_]

@gothburz just imagine the calculus of retaliation if it were a boy's school

[rita @_ritar_]

@MeghanMcCain can't have it both ways - 'not our war' tuesday and 'my heart bleeds' thursday

[rita @_ritar_]

@sayitnspinit to be left alone

[Dr. Eli David @DrEliDavid]

Hi @joerogan 👋
Big fan here.
You just said: “There seems like there's a massive amount of destruction in Tel Aviv” 👇
Only one small building has been destroyed in Tel Aviv, and a few dozen lightly damaged (mainly by shrapnel). That's all. Please double-check your sources.

[rita @_ritar_]

@gothburz the situation wasn't grave enough to justify editorial standards?

[rita @_ritar_]

@gothburz Opposing the war is a position. Making it about 'the Jooz' is a 3,500-year-old reflex

[rita @_ritar_]

@ronenbergman מר ברגמן, די. אתה מביך

[Naya Lekht 🇮🇱 🇺🇸ניה לכת @LekhtNaya]

To understand why many Americans are rooting for the noble savage, ie, Iran, cherchez les Soviets. 🧵 My mother is not a historian nor is she a scholar. But she began to say in the late 1990s, early 2000s, that the Soviet Union won on the ideological front.

This 1961 Soviet Third World 👇solidarity poster, produced during the Congo Crisis, is more than anti-colonial art; it is ideological theater. Under the slogan “Bring the colonizer to justice,” three figures, Black, Arab, and Slav, stand shoulder to shoulder, take the white colonizer to task. The moral choreography is unmistakable: the oppressed of the world united against Western domination.

Another observation made by my mother and later by the great Natan Sharansky, is this: in the Soviet Union, no one believed this messaging. They knew it was ideological slop--manufactured by a propaganda state. Key word: propaganda state. "We developed a skill," my mother says, "of reading between the lines." Put differently, the Soviet citizen was distrustful.

In the West, by contrast, raised on freedom and abundance, readers and viewers developed something Soviet citizens never fully had: belief. What the Soviets could only enforce, post-colonial theorists could inspire. What Moscow imposed through coercion, Western institutions absorbed as conviction.

[dan ushman @danushman]

Don’t forget to Monitor the Situation!!