229. Telegram From the Embassy in Israel to the Department of State1
Tel Aviv, June 9, 1967,
0810Z.
4024. 1. Prime Minister Eshkol asks that the following message be transmitted to the President:
[Page 389]2. “Dear Mr. President: I was deeply grieved by the tragic loss of life on the U.S. Naval ship Liberty. Please accept my deep condolences and convey my sympathy to all the bereaved families.2
3. May all bloodshed come to an end and may our God grant us peace evermore. Sincerely, Levi Eshkol.”
Barbour
- Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 ARAB–ISR. Limited Official Use; Immediate. Received at 5:14 a.m. Passed to the White House, DOD, CIA, USIA, NSA, COMAC for POLAD, CINCSTRIKE, and USUN at 5:35 a.m.↩
- Telegram 4028 from Tel Aviv, June 9, reported that Eshkol had asked the Embassy to inform the U.S. Government that the Israeli Government was “willing to make retribution to the families of the victims of the Liberty naval incident” and inquired whether such retribution would be acceptable. (Ibid.) Letters of condolence from Eban and Harman to President Johnson and Secretary Rusk, June 8, are in the Johnson Library, National Security File, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, Vol. 3, and the National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 ARAB–ISR.↩