Perhaps you’ve wondered why the USS Liberty (ATGR-5), a naval ship attacked in 1967, has suddenly re-emerged in alternative news and social media. Look no further than Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson. Carlson insists that he’s just asking questions and wondering why we can’t talk about it. Owens, however, does the heavy lifting, resurrecting what both pundits claim is a cover-up. In her words, Owens said, “This is a story that has been buried for decades. I want to bring it back to life, to make sure Americans know what happened to the USS Liberty.” The reason for the sudden interest: Israel.
The Liberty’s revival reflects Owens and Carlson’s desperation to turn the American people against Israel, because Israel accidentally attacked this U.S. warship. Sadly, Americans who follow Owens did not hear the truth about what happened. Instead, they heard Phil Tourney, an embittered Liberty survivor, blend his experience of the attack with half-truths, outright lies, and antisemitic conspiracy theory.
Owens’ interview with Tourney first aired about a year ago, but she recently doubled down, reposting it on X this past Veterans Day, describing it as “spiritually impactful.” From the perspective of this U.S. Naval veteran, I am horrified at Owens’ willingness to partner with Tourney (who collaborates with Holocaust deniers). Together, they’ve transformed a tragedy into a blood libel against Jewish people and Israel.
The Candace Owens Business Model: Sensationalism Sells
The wisdom of Israel’s King Solomon is timeless: “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17). If you first heard about the USS Liberty through Owens’ interview, you would come away believing Israel deliberately and relentlessly attacked the Liberty during the Six Day War, and that the White House and upper-level U.S. Naval officials intentionally covered it up. This requires accepting the absurd claim that multiple admirals and naval officers committed high treason against a ship full of U.S. Navy sailors to protect a U.S.-Israel relationship that hadn’t fully blossomed yet.
Tourney even floats the possibility that America hired Israel to sink the Liberty to draw the U.S. into World War III. He alleges that when the attack failed, the U.S. government covered it up. Tourney then calls on President Donald J. Trump not to abandon the Liberty veterans and calls for an investigation that he says hasn’t happened (only a naval board of inquiry). In Tourney’s own words, “All presidents, all congresses, including Donald Trump, have not done anything for us.”
After Tourney recounts his story, Candace seizes the opportunity to promote her own antisemitic and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories, ranging from Leo Frank to JFK, going so far as to suggest our American government is currently “occupied” by the Jews. Owens and Tourney eventually conclude that Charlie Kirk and Ben Shapiro were gaslighting the Liberty survivors.
Regardless of what Owens and Tourney claim, we as Christians are called to discernment: “But test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The Owens interview fails to address the facts. For instance, Tourney refuses to admit that ten U.S. investigations into the Liberty incident occurred between 1967 and 2004; five were by Congress. Adding Israel’s official investigation and unofficial media investigations (Britain’s Thames TV, ABC News, NBC News), one can count at least fourteen investigations that concluded the incident was an accident.
Additionally, Tourney’s presence on the Liberty during the attack in no way positioned him to establish the attackers’ motives. As a Navy veteran myself, I know full well that had my ship been attacked at sea, I could describe what the attackers did, but I could not tell you why they did it. For that information, I would look elsewhere. Audio recordings of the attack exist from long before AI deepfakes were possible; both the NSA and the Israeli government declassified their respective recordings, revealing the truth.
With all the posturing over this story being “buried,” it should be known that when legacy media (e.g., ABC Nightline) had slightly more journalistic credibility, their efforts to go after Israel in reporting often rendered claims of conspiracy untenable. If the legacy media of the 1980s—not exactly a friend of Israel—found the official claims of an accident credible, how much more should we? Declassified documents from both the U.S. and Israel stand in the way of Owens and Tourney’s revisionist history. These documents prove the attack was an accident and, quite frankly, they’re an embarrassment for both governments. Therefore, a brief review of the history is in order.
What Really Happened to the Liberty?
It is important to recall the geopolitical backdrop of the 1960s. America’s support for Israel was positive but certainly not as strong as today. It is an anachronistic mistake for Owens and Tourney to insist otherwise; the U.S. often played both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict because of oil interests. Nevertheless, both President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy were vocal supporters of Israel. RFK was killed for that support by a Palestinian Arab.
Despite positive support from the Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations, America was not even Israel’s largest military supplier at the time of the Liberty attack; France was. The aircraft Israel used in the attack were French. The Nixon Administration was the true turning point in the U.S.-Israel alliance, where Israel became viewed as a strategic Cold War ally. Like Vietnam, the 1967 mideast conflict cannot be understood apart from Cold War alliances with either the U.S. or the Soviet Union (USSR).
A month prior to the attack, in May 1967, it was evident that Egypt’s coalition with Syria, Jordan, and Iraq would eventually attack Israel. War broke out on June 5th. Egypt’s primary military supplier was the USSR, while Egypt’s diplomatic communications with the U.S. went dark that May. Israel, in contrast, maintained open communication lines with the U.S. This prompted the National Security Agency (NSA), on May 23rd, to order the Liberty, a spy ship, to leave West Africa and head toward the East Mediterranean to operate off the coast of Port Said, Egypt. This order was given through the Joint Chiefs before the Six Day War began.
En route to Egypt, the Liberty stopped in Rota, Spain, to pick up Arabic and Russian linguists. Notably, there were no Hebrew linguists aboard. The Liberty‘s mission was not to spy on Israel. The Liberty was obviously dispatched to spy on the Egyptian military and its Soviet advisers.
The Six Day War began because Israel preemptively struck Egypt to gain the upper hand in what was becoming an existential threat. The Liberty did not arrive at its operating zone until June 8th, halfway through the conflict, as Israel neared the complete capture of Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula.
Contrary to Tourney’s claims of being spotted by Israel on June 7th, it wasn’t until early on June 8th (roughly 8 hours before the attack) that an Israeli plane spotted the Liberty. The Israeli Navy used a manual called Jane’s Fighting Ships to identify it as the Liberty and marked it as a neutral ship on their naval intelligence plotting table.
Sadly, a key mistake occurred after the morning watch relief. Around 11:00 AM local time, the new command duty officer, Avraham Lunz, reported that the information on the war table “was quite old [five hours]… knowing that no ship would stay … in its place… we took it off without knowing where it went.”
Meanwhile, Israeli forces were taking control of the coastal city of El Arish in the Sinai Peninsula. A large explosion led the Israelis to mistakenly believe they were taking fire from the sea. This led to a search for an Egyptian vessel that would have fired on El Arish. Unfortunately, the Liberty was close enough to be seen from the shore by the IDF, being mistaken for an Egyptian vessel causing the explosion.
In an embarrassment to the IDF, a fierce rivalry between the Israeli Navy and Air Force interfered with operations, as they eventually competed for the opportunity to eliminate the perceived threat. When the Liberty was spotted at sea by the Israeli Navy, mistaken for the Egyptian warship El Quseir, they pursued her. It did not help matters that the Liberty was heading fast toward Port Said, Egypt, as its “undisputed heading was 283o.”
Shortly after 1:00 PM, the Israeli Navy realized it would not close a 22-mile gap before their supposed Egyptian target escaped to Port Said. Reluctantly, the Navy called for air support. The Israeli Air Force was eager for the glory of taking out an Egyptian target.
We must understand that a jet diving from 10,000 to 1,000 feet at nearly 600 mph heading fore to aft over the Liberty cannot see a 5×8 flag, hull number, or ship’s name. At 1:58 PM, two waves of Israeli aircraft strafed the ship with heavy machine gun fire (30mm), causing fires and billowing smoke, eventually attacking it with napalm also. Obviously, Israel urgently called these pilots to the scene, as they were not equipped with the iron bombs needed to sink her (a capability Israel had nearby).
Afterward, sitting dead in the water, Liberty’s flag still remained unseen. The standard underway colors were left hidden by smoke, then almost immediately shot down. Furthermore, gun camera photos confirm—through the upward direction of billowing smoke—that the larger holiday ensign did not have enough wind to fly for visibility once hoisted as a replacement.
Conspiracy theorists talk as if the attack lasted for hours when the air attack lasted only 14 minutes. About 15 minutes later, the Israeli Navy caught up and was close enough to launch five torpedoes. All but one missed. The whole event ended around 2:40 PM, with air and naval assaults totaling 42 minutes.
It’s worth noting that before the Israeli Navy torpedoed the Liberty, they requested the vessel identify itself from a mile away. Using an Aldis lamp, the Israelis asked in code, “Identify yourself.” Unable to identify Israel through the smoke, the Liberty responded with: “Identify yourself.” The Israeli Navy had experienced this pattern with Egypt in the 1956 Sinai War, where they captured an Egyptian destroyer. This repeated pattern led Israel to further conclude the ship was the El Quseir. It also didn’t help that a sailor on the Liberty disobeyed his captain, CDR William McGonagle, by opening fire on the Israeli Navy with a .50-caliber machine gun. Convinced they were correct about their target, the Israelis fired torpedoes.
It took another 50 minutes for Israel to confirm the Liberty’s identity. Israel immediately accepted the blame and offered to help, contrary to the Owens-Tourney exchange. CDR McGonagle testified that Israel offered immediate assistance, and “official US reports state that the offer of help was declined” by the Liberty. A statement from one Israeli is telling as he reported that when assistance was offered, “They told us to go to hell.”
The Aftermath of the Incident
It is incredible that Tourney and Owens feigned lament that Israel left the Liberty stranded for 17 hours. Tourney’s claims contradict his own CO’s testimony. Additionally, he tells a tale of a vulgar exchange with an IDF marine attempting to board the Liberty from a helicopter with the goal of scuttling the ship. Official reports confirm a chopper was one of several offers of help. My suggestion is this: Tourney selectively uses inconvenient facts to distort truth, painting the IDF in a bad light with unverifiable claims.
Israel acted irresponsibly, but it was a time of war. As compensation for this accident, Israel has paid millions in restitution to the United States, the families of those killed, and the service members wounded. Of course, Tourney minimizes these reparations for the sake of optics. Realistically, the U.S. should have compensated its own personnel as well. We should discount the false accusations against the U.S. that conspiracy theorists like Tourney disseminate and, instead, acknowledge the true errors made by the U.S. in this accident.
First, there was a communication breakdown within our own military. The Joint Chiefs tried five times to order the Liberty away from the warzone. Remember, original orders were sent in late May; by June 7th, they were urgently attempting to keep the Liberty out of harm’s way. The Liberty didn’t receive the new orders to turn away until two hours after the attack. Contrary to Tourney, in 1967, one could not just pick up the phone at the White House and call ships in the Mediterranean. Second, what the White House could have done, however, is notify Israel. Israeli officials rightly state that the U.S. “acted carelessly and placed [Liberty] in … a war area without giving notice of her presence to the Israeli authorities.”
Problems with the Owens-Tourney Interview
What conspiracy theorists like Tourney fail to establish is this: motive. It makes absolutely no sense that Israel deliberately attacked the Liberty while defending against five Arab nations and needing friends. Tourney’s claim that the Johnson administration wanted World War III rewrites history, as the U.S. was doing everything to avoid the Cold War going hot. In fact, the U.S. Sixth Fleet’s communications officer, CDR Frank Snyder, said, “A wave of relief rolled over the Sixth Fleet headquarters upon learning that the attackers of the Liberty were Israeli and not Soviet or Egyptian.” This is why U.S. aircraft were called back from defending the Liberty. There was no need to engage with Israel over an admitted accident.
It is telling that Tourney decided to attack the writer, A. Jay Cristol, toward the close of the interview. In his own words, Tourney says, “There was a man named A. Jay Cristol. He was a bankruptcy judge, and he wrote a book, The Liberty Incident. He’s Jewish, and, um, he lied about it.” Tourney’s antisemitism here is disgusting. I know plenty of Jewish people who are critical of the State of Israel, many of them are Israeli themselves. But according to Tourney, an author like Cristol (now deceased) can’t be trusted; his reasoning—in context—was Cristol’s Jewishness! This is racist rhetoric.
Cristol, who was himself a U.S. Naval JAG officer, wrote a book packed with documentation. Cristol sued the U.S. government under the Freedom of Information Act and successfully got documents declassified to reveal the truth. Much of the primary source material is now available on the NSA’s website. If you want an in-depth, fact-based analysis of the attack on the Liberty, look no further than A. Jay Cristol’s 2013 book, The Liberty Incident Revealed. It’s the one book that Tourney sought to discredit.
Copious Conspiratorial Claims
Numerous conspiratorial claims were made throughout the Owens/Tourney interview. The proverbial phrase, “We’re chasing more rabbits than we can catch,” literally comes to mind. This shows that for all the advantages of legacy media’s unpopularity, one disadvantage is that alternative media like podcasts are just as often chock full of unchecked pseudo-journalists and has-beens willing to elevate bar room sensationalism and pass it off as a real scoop. While addressing every claim in depth is beyond the purview of this article, here are a few items worth mentioning:
The JFK assassination claim: Owens insinuated that JFK’s assassination is linked to the Mossad because he supposedly opposed AIPAC. Actually, the Kennedy administration investigated AIPAC’s predecessor, the American Zionist Council (AZC), to register as a foreign agent due to foreign funding, a push led by RFK. These are not sensible reasons for Israel to target the Kennedys, as they were otherwise friendly to Israel. It has not been verified by any reliable sources or official government investigations that Mossad agents were in Dallas that day. Allegations of Mossad involvement are widely debunked conspiracy theories, sometimes suggesting the motive was Kennedy’s opposition to Israel’s Dimona nuclear program. Kennedy opposed nuclear proliferation everywhere. He was a friend to the Zionists.
The impossibility of an LBJ phone call: Again, the claim that LBJ called an admiral in the Mediterranean in 1967 is impossible. Communication was a one-way, teletype message relay. Satellite technology was in its infancy, hence the need for spy ships like the Liberty (obsolete by the 1970s). Therefore, the supposed profanity-laced “quote” from Johnson recalling planes is unverifiable and likely made up. If an instantaneous two-way conversation were possible, the Joint Chiefs wouldn’t have sent five slower messages to change the Liberty’s orders.
Mathilda Krim’s rumored affair: The claim that Johnson was having an affair with Irgun agent Mathilda Krim is also totally unverified and likely made up. Krim was involved in the Zionist movement through her first husband (who was with the Irgun). After marrying Arthur B. Krim, a Hollywood executive and philanthropist, she entered political circles and advocated for Israel. None of this corroborates Tourney’s claim of an extramarital affair. Even if true, it is a red-herring fallacy and irrelevant to Israel’s motive to attack.
LBJ’s purported Jewish heritage: Candace Owens claimed Johnson was secretly Jewish while reading a Jerusalem Post article; the claim is not in the article itself. Johnson’s ancestry was English, Scotch-Irish, and German. Like many Christian Zionists, his love for the Jewish people came from his Baptist upbringing, not Jewish heritage.
Candace Owens on the Leo Frank case: Owens is unwilling to accept that Leo Frank is innocent in the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan. She portrays Phagan as yet another “catholic” girl seized by the Jew, reviving medieval antisemitism. Her claim flies in the face of eyewitness testimony from Alonzo Mann, who came forward decades later to state that the primary prosecution witness, Jim Conley, was the actual killer. Mann saw Conley with the body and remained silent due to fear. This testimony exonerated Frank, leading to his posthumous pardon. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was formed as a result of Frank’s lynching—the only Jewish man in America to have been lynched. Interestingly, a new —unofficial—plaque near Phagan’s grave in Marietta, GA has surfaced since Owens’ interview, continuing to point the finger at Frank.
General Mossad conspiracies: Given the proven dishonesty of Owens and Tourney, their variety of claims about the Mossad are farcical. Mossad involvement in 9/11 are persistent, yet widely debunked, antisemitic conspiracy theories. Tourney’s claim about threats from a Mossad agent is unverifiable and cannot be taken seriously from a known antisemite with an ax to grind.
Tourney’s specific Liberty claims: Tourney makes a variety of unsubstantiated claims about the attack and the U.S. response. His portrayal of Israel’s ability to disable nearly every antenna and all fire hoses with precision is far-fetched; a strafing attack hits things by chance. There is no credible, verifiable evidence of Liberty survivors being forced to sign formal, legally binding non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). There are no convictions for NDA violations. Due to the sensitive nature of the Liberty’s spy assignment and the U.S. having declared to the UN that no ships would be in the area, government classification of the event makes sense.
The Scofield Bible conspiracy: The claim that the Scofield Bible was funded by “Zionists” is baseless antisemitic conspiracy theory if it implies Jewish Zionists. If it implies “Christian Zionists,” the terminology is an anachronism. Scofield’s work was published by Oxford in 1909. It was held in high regard by American evangelicals based on their literal interpretation of Scripture, a view that Owens and Tucker Carlson now attack for political reasons.
9. Tourney’s rejection of the “antisemitic” label: It is not antisemitic to discuss the Liberty incident using facts and documentation. It is antisemitic to lie about history to malign an entire nation and people. Twenty-nine minutes into the interview, Owens asks Tourney about feeling betrayed by his “friend” Israel. Tourney abruptly responds by mentioning Jesus’ betrayal by His people, claiming that God saved Liberty survivors from His chosen people. This reintroduces the old anti-Semitic canard and a form of blood libel that the Jews are “Christ-killers” and suggests they killed the Liberty sailors the same way they killed Christ. It is shameful and despicable.
What Did the Interview Accomplish?
The interview mainstreams the Liberty incident—framed as a blood libel. Additionally, other motivations appear severalfold. First, Owens’ goal is largely retaliation. She tips her hand that she is vengeful towards the “Zionist media” for backlash over standing up for Palestinian children. Indeed, she’s fallen for Hamas propaganda. For insight on Hamas’ lies, I point readers to Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a Hamas co-founder.
Second, Owens, Tourney, and Tucker aim to turn American support for Israel into opposition. They shame Christian Zionists. Candace lets on that she is not with the current conservative political movement. This brings us back to AIPAC, whom they despise.
Owens’ JFK claims are unfounded, but RFK’s opposition to AIPAC’s predecessor, the AZC, was a good thing; no foreign government should influence U.S. policy financially. AIPAC formed in 1963 as an independent American entity, which is also a good thing. American citizens have the right to lobby for an ally. It is my right and your right.
Finally, the interview was an attack on Ben Shapiro and the now-deceased Charlie Kirk. Owens included a video of Ben discussing the Liberty accurately. When Tourney challenged them to a debate, Candace responded that he was being gaslit by the two men. This opposition to TPUSA has continued, with Owens shamefully positioning herself as Kirk’s posthumous spokesperson while continuing to attack his organization.
