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From: salex@rice.EDU (Scott Alexander)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: The "Patria" incident
Message-ID: <159@dione.rice.EDU>
Date: Mon, 10-Mar-86 01:12:43 EST
Article-I.D.: dione.159
Posted: Mon Mar 10 01:12:43 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Mar-86 05:14:08 EST
References: <93@ubc-vision.UUCP> <1372@mtuxo.UUCP>
Reply-To: salex@dione.UUCP (Scott Alexander)
Organization: Rice University, Houston, Texas
Lines: 24

In article <1372@mtuxo.UUCP> hfavr@mtuxo.UUCP (a.reed) writes:
[...]
>To the mind of any civilized person there is a world
>of difference between a failed attempt to save lives, as by the Haganah
>in the "Patria" incident, and the deliberate killing of civilians as
>practiced by terrorists. We may learn something about the defenders of
>terrorism from the fact that they ignore this difference.
>
>					Adam Reed (ihnp4!npois!adam)


I have no opinion formed at this point on the Israelis-as-terrorrists
argument.  (Such an admission is probably enough to get me run off this list
:-)  However, I think the Liberty incident shows that the Israelis are
willing to attack without due provocation.  In this episode (during LBJs
term---1968 perhaps), the Israelis sank the US intelligence ship Liberty in
international waters during the Six Day War.  This action occurred after
watching it for several hours.  Afterwards, the Israelis claimed to have
mistaken it for an Egyptian ship of approximately half the length of the
Liberty.

Scott Alexander
Rice University
salex@rice.edu