Suffern, NY - Residents Walk Out From Forum on 1967 Israeli Attack

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Suffern, NY - Many Rockland residents walked out of a forum yesterday on the mistaken bombing of a U.S. spy ship more than 40 years ago, accusing the group holding the talk of fomenting anti-Semitism in a largely Jewish community just days before the start of the Jewish new year.

More than 100 people attended the forum at the Suffern Free Library - many leaving in anger before the talk ended.

The forum was ostensibly a discussion of the attack on the USS Liberty, which was in waters off the coast of Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. But many attending the forum said it was a thinly veiled attack on American Jews and the state of Israel.

"Their real agenda is, 'Why is Israel allowed to exist at all,' " said Helga Pamm of Suffern as she left the meeting in disgust. "It's pure anti-Semitism."

Others asked why the group went to Suffern in the town of Ramapo, which has a large Jewish population, on a Saturday - the Jewish Sabbath - just before tomorrow night's start of the most important observance of the year.

"They just want to cause trouble," said Aaron Kramer, a Korean War veteran from Monsey.

Others said they found the forum thought-provoking.

"I was very impressed," said Bob Davidson, who said he drove from his home in Dutchess County to hear the talk. "Obviously, the American people were never told the truth about what happened. We need a congressional investigation to get to the bottom of this. I want answers."

The veterans who sponsored the forum will speak this morning at Memorial United Methodist Church in White Plains and this afternoon at the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Upper Nyack.

The Suffern forum was punctuated by angry outbursts including calls that the organizers were liars and were portraying half-truths as facts. At times, as many as six Suffern police officers were in the hallway outside.

Forum organizers, including Rich Siegel, told the audience that they could not ask questions during the presentation. Instead, they were instructed to write questions on cards collected by forum organizers to be read at the end.

Many objected.

"So you can say whatever you want and no one can challenge you?" one man called out to loud applause.

Two men who said they were on the Liberty when it was attacked on June 8, 1967, the fourth day of the Six-Day war, gave their accounts of what happened and why they didn't think it was an accident.

The Liberty, a technical research ship, was bombed by Israeli warplanes in what both the Israeli and U.S. governments said after investigations was a case of mistaken identity during the confusion of war. The attack killed 34 Liberty crew members and wounded 171.

The Israel government apologized for the attack and paid reparation to the U.S. government and victims' families. Israel and the United States have always been strong allies.

Some American groups -including the organizers of yesterday's forum - contend that the attack was a result of a government conspiracy that has yet to be brought to light. But they offered no conclusive reason why Israel would purposely attack its strongest ally.

"The attack was not an accident," said speaker Rocky Sturman, who said he was on the Liberty during the attack. "It was deliberate."

One of the speakers, Ernie Gallo, who also said he was on the Liberty during the attack, told the audience that both governments lied about the incident.

"It appears to us that Americans aboard the crew of the USS Liberty were sacrificed to the Israelis," Gallo said.

He then told the audience - most of whom said they were Jewish - that if Jews put their allegiance to Israel first, they should leave America.

"So anyone who supports Israel should leave America?" shouted Walter Greenberg of Airmont, a Holocaust survivor who said he was so upset by the group that he left the room.

"They are really using code words to say that Jews are second-class citizens," he said as he left.

Gallo said Israeli forces were aware that they were firing on a U.S. ship.

"We were safe target practice for the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)," he said, adding that the attack on the Liberty was part of a larger pattern of conspiracies in the Middle East.

"The attack was a microcosm of what happened in June 1967," Gallo said. "Something diabolical changed at that time."

To prove their contention that the U.S. government was involved in a cover-up, Gallo and Sturman said they and other survivors were prevented by the government from asking questions in public about the incident.

"Like you're preventing us from asking questions now," an audience member said to cheers.

Many in the audience said they were angry that the library allowed the group to use the room.

"What's going to be next?" said Dan Kwilecki of Montebello. "A meeting of the American Nazi Party?"