Refuting the Israeli Arguments

"The area is not a common passage for ships."

This excuse is both irrelevant and unsubstantiated. USS Liberty's location was in international waters - more than four hours' sailing time from the nearest Israeli territorial waters.

That Israel would resort to using this type of excuse is an example of how desperate the Israelis were to find some excuse - any excuse - for the attack.

The following was the legal opinion on this explanation of the Counsel for the Court of the U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry, Captain Ward Boston Jr., as written in Appendix VI to the Court's record:

Comment - Given the conceded proposition that a ship of a neutral is steaming in international waters, the question of whether or not such waters are a "common passage" is totally irrelevant to its right to be there.