by Adiel Ismail
The attack by Israel on 1 April which killed seven members of the charity, World Central Kitchen (WCK), is reminiscent of the attack on 8 June 1967 on the USS Liberty, an American Intelligence vessel, by Israel.
In both cases, Israel claimed they were attacked because of mistaken identity. WCK founder Jose Andres does not believe this.
First, all three vehicles had the WCK emblem displayed on their roofs, so it was identifiable from the sky.
Second, the convoy of three vehicles was attacked in succession by drones. Hence, this attack could not have been a mistake.
Towards the end of March, the WCK indicated that their kitchen had distributed 42 million meals in the Gaza Strip. After the attack, the WCK suspended its aid work in Gaza.
But what was the real reason for systematically targeting the WCK workers? Was it to compel the WCK to withdraw from the region, and hence let more Palestinians die of starvation?
The USS Liberty was in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea and Israel was at war for the third day of the Six-Day war with the Arab nations.
It was a sunny day with clear skies and excellent visibility. The ship’s communication system was also jammed, leaving it a sitting duck.
No warning was issued to the USS Liberty before the Israeli warplanes bombarded the ship. What puzzled the crew was that the ship was not a warship and was clearly marked as GTR5 and, importantly, the American flag was flying high.
So, it was impossible not to identify the ship as American. But why did the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) attack its closest ally, America’ ship?
The aerial attack was followed by three torpedo boats attacking the USS Liberty firing five torpedoes. Luckily only one struck the hull of the ship.
Israel, after the attack, claimed that it was a case of mistaken identity, but the Liberty’s crew refuted this claim vehemently. The naval officers claimed that the markings on the bough of the ship and the American flag were visible.
Thirty-four crew members were killed, with 170 injuries. After the attack, the IDF dared to ask whether they could assist the American crew members. The USS Liberty crew gave the Israelis the cold shoulder and sailed for 1000 miles until they reached Malta.
Would the intelligence on the USS Liberty have identified possible war crimes that THE Israelis perpetrated against the Arab prisoners of war?
You be the judge.
* Adiel Ismail, Mountview.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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