Israel’s USS Liberty rules of impunity 
The US and Israel’s devastating war on Iran has left the entire world, including Americans and Iranians, reeling. Only one country appears to be not only content with this war but also intent on extending the chaos and devastation further. That country is Israel.
It should not really surprise us that this is the case, as Israel has consistently exploited, manipulated, and double-crossed its Western allies whenever it was determined to kill, sabotage, or wage war.
The kidnappings and assassinations that Israel has carried out over the decades, often in friendly countries and without warning to allied leaders, have become so recurrent that we perceive them today as almost normal behavior.
Whether kidnapping Nazis in Argentina, killing Canadian engineers working for Saddam Hussein, or sending 26 Israeli agents with forged British and Australian passports to assassinate a Hamas commander in Dubai, Israel’s behavior has always shown a total disregard for its closest allies when it chooses to pursue some violent and illegal objective.
Equally normal today are Israel’s longstanding violations of international law, ever since its creation in 1948. Israel considers that there is no UN resolution or international convention that applies to it or could possibly constrain its behavior.
The land Israel occupies illegally and, most shockingly, continues to seize and occupy has no parallel in the more than 78 years since its creation.
Israel is motivated only by its own interests and by constantly feeding its war machine
To bring Israeli attitudes and actions into even clearer focus, it is useful to remember the “incident” of the USS Liberty in 1967. This American intelligence-gathering ship was allegedly targeted in the Mediterranean by Israel during its war with Egypt.
After being overflown multiple times by Israeli aircraft, it was subsequently attacked by fighter jets and motor torpedo boats, killing 34 US servicemen and injuring 171 more.
To this day, Israel insists it hit the American ship by mistake, but those aboard the USS Liberty and some intelligence experts have disputed the Israeli version, suggesting instead that it may have been a deliberate attack intended to hinder US intelligence on Israel’s plans and operations.
One year later, Israel offered the US government about $3 million in compensation for the families of those killed, a gesture which the veterans of the USS Liberty considered as adding insult to injury.
It is an open secret that Israel did not want to be monitored in its war in 1967, showing that it was the one that had instigated it.
Turning to the present day, Israel successfully manipulated the Americans into dragging them into a ruinous war that benefits only Israel. And even in this war, America has lost 13 soldiers, not the 34 it lost to Israeli “friendly” fire in 1967.
Israel is motivated only by its own interests and by constantly feeding its war machine. The US and the West must be clearer going forward about the false friend Israel really is, constantly exploiting, manipulating, and double-crossing its supposed friends, while the latter do nothing to confront its behavior.
To be clear, the regime in Iran is terrible and has caused chaos and death across the region for decades. Yet why would the great American power need Israel to lead in this war in the first place, and why could it not simply stick to containing Iran by other means, as the US administration is painfully realizing would be better today?
It all has to do with Israeli influence and manipulation, extracting hundreds of millions of dollars, weapons, and unwavering support from the US, while double-crossing its Western allies at every turn. These are Israel’s USS Liberty rules, and we would do well to finally recognize them.
• Hassan bin Youssef Yassin worked closely with Saudi Arabia’s petroleum ministers Abdullah Tariki and Ahmed Zaki Yamani from 1959-1967. He led the Saudi Information Office in Washington from 1972-1981 and served with the Arab League’s observer delegation to the UN from 1981-1983.
