Screening will start at 12:00 Noon US EST; 18:00 Europe; 19:00 Palestine, running time, 60 minutes, English language. The film screening will be followed by Q&A discussion with Phill Tourney and Alison Weir.
Please click here to watch the film trailer.
Please click here to register to view the film.
SYNOPSIS
“Sacrificing Liberty” is a powerful documentary directed by Matthew Skow that examines the tragic attack on the USS Liberty by Israeli forces on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War. The film provides a detailed account of the incident, which resulted in the deaths of 34 American crew members and injuries to 174 others. Through interviews with survivors and experts, the documentary uncovers the subsequent cover-up by the U.S. government and highlights the enduring quest for justice and recognition by the survivors. It is a poignant exploration of a dark chapter in American naval history and the resilience of those who lived through it.
Panelists
Phill Tourney, President of the Liberty Veterans Association and survivor of the attack on the USS Liberty
Joined Navy 1964 two tours in Vietnam. Three tours aboard USS Liberty. Four time Liberty president and current president former chairman. Highly decorated combat wounded veteran. Life long goal ex spouse Israel for cold blooded murder. Expose our government of 57 years of covering up for the Zionist state. Liberty veterans demand a congressional investigation.
Alison Weir: Journalist Alison Weir is the executive director of "If Americans Knew," a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing Americans with information on topics of importance that are misreported or under-reported in the American media. She is also on the board of directors of the Council for the National Interest. In February and March of 2001 Alison left her position as editor of MarinScope newspaper in Sausalito, California, to travel independently as a freelance reporter throughout Gaza and the West Bank. Upon her return she founded If Americans Knew. She continues to research the issue intensively, her library on the issue now includes over 100 books, and she recently returned from three months traveling through the West Bank, Israel, and the Golan Heights. In March of 2004, Weir was inducted into honorary membership of Phi Alpha Literary Society, founded in 1845 at Illinois College. The award cited her as a: "Courageous journalist-lecturer on behalf of human rights. The first woman to receive an honorary membership in Phi Alpha history."
About the Film
IN JUNE 1967 jet aircraft and motor torpedo boats of the Defense Forces of the State of
Israel brutally assaulted the unarmed American naval intelligence-gathering ship, USS
Liberty, while in international waters off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula in the
Mediterranean Sea. The attack was preceded by more than six hours of intense low-
level surveillance by Israeli photo reconnaissance aircraft, which buzzed the ship as low
as 200 feet directly overhead. The carefully orchestrated assault that followed was
initiated by high performance jet aircraft. This was followed by slower and more
maneuverable jets carrying napalm, and was finally turned over to lethal torpedo boats,
which blasted a forty-foot hole in the ship’s side. The attack lasted more than two hours,
deliberately killing 34 Americans and wounding at least 171 others. Over 821 rockets,
cannon and machine gun holes were inflicted. When the Liberty stubbornly remained
afloat despite her damage, Israeli forces machine-gunned her life rafts, firefighters,
stretcher bearers, and sent troops carrying helicopters to finish the job, no survivors
were to be taken. This is no short of a war crime.
At this point, with Sixth Fleet rescue aircraft supposedly en route, the government of
Israel apologized, and the identity of the assailants became known.
Details of the attack were hushed up in both countries. Israel claimed that her forces
mistook the Liberty for an Egyptian ship, and the US government quietly accepted that
excuse despite evidence to the contrary. No ship in our history has ever received such
damage and casualties by accident. Then our government downplayed the intensity of
the surveillance and the severity of the attack and imposed a news blackout on the crew
to keep the story under control. The official version is that the USS Liberty was
reconnoitered only three times and only from a great distance. The American people
were told that the air attack lasted only five minutes and that it was followed by a single
torpedo and an immediate apology and offer of assistance. Nothing could be further
from the truth.
Join us in a breathtaking screening and interview with Phil Tourney, a survivor of the USS Liberty attack, and President of the Liberty Veteran Association. Co-panilist is Alison Weir, an accomplished journalist and executive director of "If Americans Knew".
