Republican Congressman Thomas Massie has renewed calls for a congressional investigation into Israel's 1967 attack on the USS Liberty , delivering a rare speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives to honour the 34 American servicemen killed in the incident and question the long-standing official account that it was a "mistake".
Speaking late on Monday, the 59th anniversary of the attack, Massie was joined by several survivors of a "vicious" assault on the American intelligence-gathering vessel during the Arab-Israeli war of June 1967.
The speech marked one of the most significant congressional acknowledgements of the USS Liberty attack in decades. Since the late 1960s, Congress has largely avoided public discussion of the incident, which killed 34 crew members and wounded 171 others.
"While they're still alive, they need closure," Massie said of the surviving crew members. "Let's give them closure. Let's have an investigation. Let's pass a resolution honouring them. It's long overdue. And then they can have their justice."
Israel has long maintained that the attack was a case of alleged "mistaken identity", describing it as a wartime "error". However, survivors and some former US military and intelligence officials have disputed that explanation for decades, arguing that the attack was deliberate.
During his speech, Massie cast doubt on the official version of events, noting that the USS Liberty was clearly marked as an American vessel.
"The visibility was unlimited. The American flag was flying proudly on the USS Liberty," he told lawmakers.
He also referenced testimony from crew members who have long maintained that Israeli forces knew the ship was American when they attacked it.
"The Israelis were intent on leaving no survivors," Massie said, citing accounts from survivors and former senior US officials.
The USS Liberty, one of the most sophisticated intelligence and technical research vessels in the US Navy at the time, was operating in international waters off Egypt's coast during the 1967 war when Israeli fighter jets and torpedo boats attacked the ship on 8 June 1967.
In the immediate aftermath of the assault, then-US President Lyndon Johnson reportedly feared that the Soviet Union could have been responsible and ordered military aircraft into the area before being informed that Israel had carried out the attack.
According to US State Department archives, Johnson subsequently sent an urgent message to Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin explaining that American aircraft had been dispatched to investigate reports that the vessel had been torpedoed.
US officials quickly accepted Israel's explanation that the attack had been accidental. According to testimony later provided by Ward Boston, the military lawyer who served as senior counsel to the Navy's court of inquiry, senior officials pressured investigators to conclude that the attack resulted from mistaken identity.
The official US position continues to describe the incident as an accident, despite findings by independent investigations, including the commission led by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas Moorer, concluding that the attack was deliberate and accused successive US administrations of failing to properly investigate the case.
Congress, however, has never passed a resolution condemning Israel for the attack, nor has it launched a comprehensive public inquiry despite repeated appeals from survivors.
A 1968 congressional subcommittee report related to the incident remains classified, and the National Security Agency has refused to release it.
The attack also received limited attention in the American media at the time, with US officials, lawmakers and major news organisations downplaying the deaths of American servicemen in order to avoid a confrontation with Israel.
Survivors were reportedly ordered not to discuss the incident publicly under threat of disciplinary action, while veterans' groups have spent decades lobbying Congress to reopen the case.
Massie's intervention comes amid renewed scrutiny of US support for Israel following the wars in Gaza , Lebanon and Iran. The Kentucky Republican, one of the most outspoken critics of unconditional US support for Israel in Congress, has also opposed recent US military action against Iran .