Aug 24, 2026
The Altalena
The Altalena was a ship off the cost of Israel bringing weapons for the War of Independence, immigrants and Irgun fighters. Menachem Begin was on the ship and he and David Ben Gurion had a disagreement as to what to dow itht he weapons brought on the ship. Ben Gurion insisted that all the weapons be handed over to the IDF, saying there can only be one military in the fledgling newly founded State of Israel, while Begin wanted most of the weapons distributed among the different Irgun groups so they could continue fighting as militias. After fighting broke out between the two groups, Ben Gurion ordered his forces to sink the ship. Begin decided to stand down and told his people to not shoot back so as to prevent a possible civil war. The ship was shelled and sunk with 16 Irgun fighters being killed (not on the ship but fighting on land with IDF troops), along with 3 IDF soldiers.
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| no new picture of the wreckage has yet been released |
In 1949 the ship was towed further out to sea, about 15 kilometers off the coast, and sunk, to clear the coast of the remianing debris.
People have since been searchign for remains of the Altalena. The Ministry of Heritage today announced, via Ministers Amichai Eliyahu and Itamar Ben Gvir, that the Altalena has been discovered fully intact, at a depth of 503 meters and about 20km off the coast.
Minister Eliyahu said new technology made the discovery possible, saying "
Minister Eliyahu said new technology made the discovery possible, saying "
"We have been dealing with this issue secretly for many years, and today – the fruits of the intelligence and operational effort have borne exciting fruit for the sake of historical truth, the memory of the fallen, and unity with Israel."
I assume they are going to see if it is viable to recover the wreckage and bring it ashore. There is a question as to what is meant by finding it fully intact as eye witnesses from the days of when the Altalena was sunk have said it was not intactw hen it sank as part of the ship had separated and went up in flames, but these are details that will be worked out when historians get to analyze it more thoroughly.
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