55 years ago/June 8, 1967

On the southern front the encircled Israeli troops at the Mitla Pass were relieved. The Israeli troops reached and closed up to the Suez Canal and they were mopping up Egyptian units. There was a last ditch Egyptian attempt to open a route to their troops stuck on the Sinai, but it was repelled after heavy fight. During the night the United Arab Republic (UAR/Egypt) accepted the call for ceasefire. They still try to prove that Israel won because two great powers supported them. On the northern front the situation was like on the previous days, however Syria announced to continue the war. The Soviet Union tried to make the UN Security Council condemn Israel for violating the resolutions on June 6 and 7. The United States and the Soviet Union tried to keep contact and inform each other about their actions in connection the war and in the region. During the day Israeli jets and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty, a US technical research ship/spy ship about 25.5 nautical miles (47.2 km) northwest from el-Arish. The ship was seriously damaged 34 members of the crew were killed and 171 were wounded (according to other sources 31 were killed and 75 were wounded). According to the US government, the ship helped in the communication with the US embassies in the Middle East in connection with the evacuation of US citizens. According to the Israeli government, the Israeli units mistook the USS Liberty for an Egyptian warship. Israel apologized, compensation was paid to the families of the killed crew members and the wounded servicemen, and for the damage of the ship. However, since then different theories have come up. One of the most extreme said, that members from the ship landed on the Sinai, and interfered the communication between the Egyptian troops. Another – Egyptian – allegation was that the ship helped to scout the air force of the UAR, interfered the locators of the Egyptian army. According to these theories, the purpose of the attack against the ship was to cover its role or it became inconvenient to the Israelis. Other theory says, the ship was simply inconvenient for the Israelis, they didn’t like somebody nosing in the area. And, there is the official version about the friendly fire. The fact that a Soviet fleet was in the region besides the US 6th Fleet made the situation more complicated. It could have been easily escalated if the attackers had been Soviet jets or the Israeli troops had attacked a Soviet ship accidentally. According to the memoirs it seems that it was a big relief in Washington and Tel-Aviv when it turned out to be a friendly fire. Also on this day on a press conference the Israelis presented a tape about the phone conversation of President Gamal Abdel Nasser and King Hussein about accusing the US and the UK participating in the war on the side of Israel.