Abba Eban: Some American leaders--including Secretary of
      State Rusk--found it difficult to assume that the attack
      had been inadvertent. They occupied their minds with
      various scenarios of motivation. All of them were false.
      Israel had no interest whatever in preventing the United
      States from knowing what was going on. There was nothing
      apologetic about our military decisions ....I
      categorically assert that the LIBERTY tragedy was not
      deliberate. I attended all the intimate consultations of
      the defense and diplomatic leaders in those forty-eight
      hours, and it is certain that airmen and soldiers would
      not have reported falsely to the prime minister, the
      newly appointed defense minister and to the chief of
      staff on a matter as grave as the sinking [sic] of an
      American vessel by Israeli  forces.