The possibility of a false flag to start a war doesn't seem so outlandish when you consider the context of the era. Only a few years earlier you had the U.S. Department of Defense proposing plans to carry out terrorist attacks on American soil and blame the Cubans for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods

Another example from the same era was the second Gulf of Tonkin incident which lead to the Vietnam War. In the 2000's Robert McNamara finally admitted the second incident never happened.

I didn't use the term dogwhistle. I didn't put forward any theory regarding what "actually" happened with the Liberty. I didn't accuse anyone of antisemitism. I am simply stating a fact that this is something that antisemitic people often point to as proof of the evilness and/or anti-American behavior of Jews. The actual facts of what happened are mostly irrelevant in regards to how the incident has been co-opted.

>The accusation of antisemitism whenever misbehavior from the Israeli government comes up is itself antisemitic because it presupposes that "the Republic of Israel" and "the Jews" are the same thing.

I believe this argument is pointless since people on all sides of this debate selectively draw and blur the line between Israel and Jews depending on what point they are trying to make.