I grew up in a home with strong Zionist traditions. My uncle was an official of the Zionist Organization of America and made many trips to Israel. When in New York, my aunt and uncle were frequent visitors to our home, especially around holiday time where dinner celebrations always ended with the singing of Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. On those occasions, they would dazzle us with their stories of experiences in the Holy Land.

Israel purposely and deliberately attacked the U.S.S. Liberty – Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State

On June 8, 1967, an American Navy intelligence ship, the U.S.S. Liberty, patrolling off the waters of Israel and the Gaza Strip, came under the fire of jet fighter aircraft and torpedo boats. I recall that I heard the news from my transistor radio while I was at my summer job, scraping the old paint off a house in New Orleans’ Lakeview section. The attack occurred during the Israeli-Arab war of 1967, a war in which America supported Israel. The first news accounts did not identify the attacking parties, and I assumed that the Egyptians, in a supremely brutal and stupid attack, had struck a U.S. vessel in retaliation for our massive support of the Israeli military. Immediately after the first reports of the attack came in, a few elected officials had already begun to call for immediate military retaliation on Egypt.