Ben Shapiro Dismisses USS Liberty Attack as “IRRELEVANT”
A heated exchange at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference in Phoenix thrust a long-dormant historical controversy back into the spotlight of American conservative politics. During a Q&A session following his speech, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro was confronted by an audience member about the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty — a U.S. Navy intelligence ship attacked during the Six-Day War, resulting in 34 American sailors killed and 171 wounded.
The questioner directly challenged Shapiro, who had earlier in the event reportedly described the incident as “irrelevant” due to its age, asking why he would dismiss the event while emphasizing “truth” as a core conservative value. Shapiro responded by defending the official conclusion that the attack was a tragic case of mistaken identity amid the fog of war. He suggested that most people who repeatedly raise the issue do so to imply that Israel deliberately sought to harm America — a motive he rejected as implausible and often tied to antisemitic narratives.
The moment quickly went viral, highlighting deepening fractures within the MAGA movement over U.S. foreign policy toward Israel. Prominent figures like Tucker Carlson later criticized Shapiro’s approach, arguing that questioning why a foreign government attacked an American ship in 1967 does not inherently make someone antisemitic. The exchange fueled debates about generational divides, with younger “America First” conservatives expressing skepticism toward unwavering U.S. support for Israel, while established voices like Shapiro emphasized strategic alliances and historical context.
The USS Liberty incident itself remains contentious more than half a century later. Official U.S. and Israeli investigations concluded it was an error, but survivors and some military officials have long maintained that the assault — which involved airstrikes and torpedo boats over an extended period — was intentional, citing the ship’s clear American markings and the duration of the attack. Regardless of interpretation, the event received limited public attention at the time and has rarely been central to mainstream conservative discourse.
Shapiro’s dismissal of the episode as largely irrelevant in 2025, given its distance from current events, struck many observers as pragmatic realpolitik. Critics, however, saw it as emblematic of selective historical memory — especially when contrasted with Shapiro’s frequent references to other historical atrocities. The AmericaFest confrontation, amplified across social media and podcasts, contributed to reported subscriber losses for Shapiro’s platforms and underscored ongoing tensions between unconditional support for allies and an “America First” prioritization of U.S. interests.
As conservative coalitions continue to evolve in the post-2024 landscape, incidents like this reveal how even decades-old events can expose fault lines over loyalty, truth, and foreign entanglements. Whether the USS Liberty debate fades again or becomes a recurring flashpoint remains to be seen — but for a moment in late 2025, a 1967 tragedy became very relevant indeed.