Altalena

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ALTALENA

Armed IZL ship sunk by the Israel Defense Force on 22 June 1948 on Tel Aviv's shore.

Purchased in America in 1947 by an official of the Irgun Zvaʾi Leʾumi (IZL) and renamed Altalena,
Zeʾev Jabotinsky's Italian pen name, the 1,820-ton landing craft was at first used to carry European refugees to Palestine. It became a transporter of arms for the Irgunists following the United Nations's (UN) partition resolution on 29 November 1947, which set off the first Arab–Israel War (1947–1948). On 1 June 1948, Menachem Begin, a leader of the Irgun, met with official military leaders of the newly independent state of Israel to sign an agreement for the incorporation of the Irgun battalions into the Israel Defense Force (IDF) but did not let the government know of Irgun's negotiations with France, which had agreed to supply the Irgun with arms materiel from war overstock. The arms—including 5,000 British rifles, 4 million bullets, 300 Bren guns, 250 Stens, 150 Spandau rifles, and 50 eight-inch mortars—would be transported on the Altalena, also carrying 900 trained Irgun recruits from Europe.

The Altalena left Port du Bouc with its cargo of arms and men on 11 June 1948, the first day of a month-long UN-brokered peace that pledged Arabs and Jews not to import arms into Israel. In view of the truce and a newspaper article (10 June 1948) and a BBC broadcast (11 June 1948) that made Irgun's Altalena operation public, Begin notified the Israeli government of the ship's impending arrival. Prime Minister Ben-Gurion considered the Irgun's actions a danger to the truce and a critical challenge to the authority of the state, but he conditionally permitted the ship to proceed because of the country's vital need for arms. In the ensuing negotiations between the Irgun high command and government representatives, which began on 16 June 1948, Irgunists agreed to hand over to the IDF half of the stock of arms, provided a considerable portion of the remaining supply would be apportioned to the incorporated Irgun units and that one-fifth would be allocated to the Irgun forces in Jerusalem (which, according to UN decree, had not become part of Israel). The Irgun leaders also agreed to dock the Altalena at Kfar Vitkin, a settlement north of Tel Aviv loyal to Ben-Gurion forces, to which the ship came on 19 June 1948. As a result of an unresolved difference as to where the arms would be warehoused, the government issued an ultimatum to Irgun to turn over the arms.

When the Irgun men ignored the ultimatum, government forces attacked disembarked Irgunists. Disregarding Begin's orders to stay and fight, the Irgunists removed the Altalena to Tel Aviv, where they believed the government would not hazard starting a civil war. In the port of Tel Aviv, on 22 June 1948, Ben-Gurion ordered government forces to take all measures necessary to put down Irgun's "revolt." An initial Irgun advantage was overcome by reinforced IDF units, which hit the ship with shells from a cannon ("a blessed gun," according to Ben-Gurion). In spite of a call for a truce from the mayor of Tel Aviv and the raising of a white flag by the Irgunists, government forces continued to hit the Altalena until the ammunition below deck caught fire and the burning ship had to be evacuated. It sank with bombs and ammunition detonating. In the fighting, a total of twenty Irgunists were killed and eighty-seven wounded.

In the aftermath of the sinking of the Altalena, the Irgun accused Ben-Gurion of conspiring to get rid of his opponents, and the government accused the Irgun of planning a revolt against it. The extended conflict, which increased the tension between the two groups, represented the last physical confrontation between the organized Yishuv and the dissenters. Two cabinet ministers resigned in protest of the government's handling of the situation, and for many years the events surrounding the Altalena 's sinking cast a pall over Israeli politics.

see also begin, menachem; ben-gurion, david; irgun zvaʾi leʾumi (izl); jabotinsky, vladimir zeʾev; yishuv.