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Transcripts Show USS Liberty Attack was an Error
(Ha'aretz) Nathan Guttman - New documents released this week by America's National Security Agency support Israel's version of Israel's shelling of an American spy ship, the USS Liberty, off the coast of Gaza during the 1967 Six-Day War. The documents, originally defined as top secret, were made public by Florida Judge Jay Cristol, a former U.S. navy pilot who has been investigating the Liberty incident for years and published a book on the subject. On Monday, the NSA gave him a transcript of conversations by two Israeli Air Force helicopter pilots hovering over the Liberty after it was hit. An American spy plane recorded their conversations, as well as the orders radioed to the pilots by their supervisor, which instructed them to search for Egyptian survivors from the "Egyptian warship" that had just been bombed - thus supporting Israel's claim that it had believed the ship was Egyptian when it ordered it attacked. "It's the last piece of intelligence that remained classified, and every rational person that will read it will understand that there is no truth in these conspiracy theories against Israel," said Cristol. But he added: "Those who hate Israel, who hate Jews, and those who believe in conspiracy will not be convinced by anything."