US Veterans commemorate 43rd anniversary of Israeli attack on US ship

Thursday June 10, 2010 04:58 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Forty-three years ago, the Israeli military attacked a U-S ship called the U-S-S Liberty in international waters. Thirty-four U-S sailors were killed, and one hundred seventy four injured.

The anniversary of the attack was even more poignant than usual this year, as the Israeli navy attacked a humanitarian aid ship last week in international waters, killing nine people including an American teenager.

A number of veterans of the USS Liberty attack gathered this week in the US to commemorate the anniversary of the attack.

One of the veterans of the U-S-S liberty attack, Joe Medders, was on the humanitarian aid ship attacked last week.

He said that there were a lot of similarities between the two attacks: in both cases, Israel attacked international vessels in international waters; both the USS Liberty and the 6-ship aid convoy were completely unarmed when they were attacked, and engaged in legal, peacetime activities; Israeli forces attacked people trying to escape in both instances; Israeli forces blocked communications and jammed radar in violation of international law in both cases; and Israeli authorities attempted to stifle any investigation of both attacks.

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