When it was clear that there was incontrovertible proof the Israelis changed their story and started admitting to a "mistake". In other words, they lied and owned up to nothing, whether or not they paid paid paid the "repetitions".
Why do you care, Achmed? It was an accident and Israel apologized. You got a problem take it up with your congressman or senator.
USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia
Israel apologized for the attack, saying that the USS
Liberty had been attacked in error after being mistaken for an Egyptian ship.
[6] Both the Israeli and
U.S. governments conducted inquiries and issued reports that concluded the attack was a mistake due to Israeli confusion about the ship's identity,
[2] though others, including survivors of the attack, have rejected these conclusions and maintain that the attack was deliberate.
[7]