USS Liberty Veterans Blog

Mitchell Bard, “I’m just the messenger.”

No, Mitchell. You’re not “just the messenger.” You’re a liar and propagandist.

by Joe Meadors

Mitchell Bard, Executive Director and Curator of AICE and author of “Myths & Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict” has thrown Jay Cristol under the bus.

With the 2002 publication of “The Liberty Incident” by Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol the myth of the “ten official US investigations” of the attack on the USS Liberty was created.

“The Liberty Incident” is based on the research Mr. Cristol claims he conducted in fulfillment of the requirements for his PhD. This is the ultimate source of the “ten official US investigations” of the attack on our ship.

In the 35 years that preceded the publication of the Cristol screed, we were in touch with Members of Congress asking if we could provide some eyewitness text in the boilerplate responses they send to constituents who write asking about the attack on our ship.

In the 35 years that preceded the publication of the Cristol screed, our offers were ignored.

Then comes the myth of “ten official investigations” of the attack on our ship and immediately that myth makes its appearance in Congressional boilerplate.

And, to no surprise, that myth has been repeated in the Jewish Virtual Library not as myth but as fact.

In a recent email to USS Liberty Survivor, Ron Kukal, Dr. Bard absolves himself and the Jewish Virtually from the requirement to independently verify the information submitted for inclusion on their website:

Ron,

I’m just the messenger. Your beef is with the investigators. Here is a list of all the investigations and findings.

November 30, 2021 Email From Dr. Mitchell Bard to USS Liberty Survivor Ron Kukal

No, Dr. Bard, our beef isn’t with the investigators—there are none. Our beef is with you in not verifying the claim Mr. Cristol made in his book.

I emailed Dr. Bard:

Mitchell,

I was aboard the USS Liberty when the ship was attacked by the IDF on June 8, 1967 and serve my shipmates as Director of Operations of the USS Liberty Veterans Association.

I want to thank you for your kindness in responding to my shipmate, Ron Kukal.

Speaking of US government investigations of the attack on our ship, when we learned of the claim Jay made about multiple US government investigations of the attack, we sought to obtain a copy of those investigations from the US government.

We contacted numerous Members of Congress and the Historians of both the US House and US Senate. We also contacted the Congressional Research Service (through a Member of Congress) and the National Archives and Records Administration.

None was able to identify any records that refer to a US government investigation and none was able to provide us with the report of any US government investigation of the attack on our ship.

Like you, we rely upon the examination and analysis of documents from original sources. This protects both of us from the legitimate accusation that our analysis is colored by the possible but unintended biases of intermediaries.

That said, how did you verify the accuracy of Jay’s claim that multiple US government investigations of the attack were conducted when the US government has been unable to find any reference to any such investigation and has been unable to provide a copy of any US government investigation of the attack?

December 2, 2021 Email From Joe Meadors, Director of Operations, USS Liberty Veterans Association to Mitchell Bard, Executive Director, American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise

I hope to write again about this after I receive Dr. Bard’s response.

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