Israeli communications said to prove IAF knew Liberty was U.S. ship

Revisited below.

I really can't wait for the spin on this. With friends like this you don't need enemies comes to mind.

The Israel Air Force warplanes and Israel Navy warships that attacked the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, at the height of the Six-Day War, were aware that the vessel was an American spy ship, according to new testimony published Thursday in the Chicago Tribune.

The report stated that the U.S. National Security Agency - to which the intelligence gathering ship belonged - was able to intercept IAF communications according to which, at some stage, the pilots identified the ship as American but were nonetheless instructed to push ahead with the attack.

Revisit: What the fuck? This makes no sense to me on the surface. An ally knew they were attacking a US ship and did it anyway? Why? To what purpose? Were they trying to draw the US into a war with a perceived enemy? They thought the US wouldn't know Israel was responsible for the attack?

There are a fucking lot more questions here than I can answer.

BTW: The report is from Haaretz. Not exactly an outlet critical of Israel.

Via Harretz.