Israel Locates Wreck Of Arms-Smuggling Ship Sunk Off Mediterranean Coast After Deadly 1948 Clash

Israel has found the wreck of the Altalena, an arms ship that was sunk in 1948 after a deadly clash between Israel’s newly formed military and the right-wing Irgun militia.

The wreck was found 78 years later at a depth of 503 metres off Israel’s Mediterranean coast.

The discovery comes less than two months before Israel’s legislative elections on Oct. 27 and has brought the long-running dispute over the Altalena back into the political debate.

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced the discovery. Eliyahu said the ship was found intact at 12:30 a.m.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the discovery. Netanyahu’s Likud party was founded by Menachem Begin, the Irgun leader who was involved in the Altalena affair.

Why the Altalena was sunk?

The Altalena left Marseille, France, in June 1948 carrying weapons, Jewish immigrants and fighters for the Irgun, a militant Zionist group.

The ship carried about 5,000 rifles, 450 machine guns and carts of ammunition. The weapons were meant for the Irgun, which had previously attacked British authorities and Palestinians.

At the time, Israel had just been established and was fighting neighbouring Arab countries. David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, was trying to bring the Jewish militias under one national military.

The Haganah, the main Jewish paramilitary force before Israel was established, became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.

The Irgun was also ordered to disband. However, Irgun representatives in Paris continued with the Altalena mission.

When Ben-Gurion learned about the weapons shipment, he ordered the ship and its cargo to be handed over to the new Israeli army. He wanted to prevent another armed group from challenging the authority of the new state.

Irgun leader Menachem Begin asked for some of the weapons to be given to Irgun units in Jerusalem.

16 Irgun members and three Israeli soldiers were killed. Begin then ordered his fighters to surrender. He said: “There will be no civil war with the enemy at our gates.”

Historians have said the confrontation could have developed into a civil war, but Begin’s decision helped prevent that from happening.

Ship was later sunk at sea

The Altalena was damaged during the fighting and remained off the Tel Aviv coast for nearly a year.

In 1949, it was refloated and towed about 15 miles out to sea before being sunk. The incident became a symbol of the political divide between Israel’s left and right.

Ben-Gurion accused the right of encouraging violence and attempting a coup, while the right accused the left of trying to remove its political opponents, according to University of Haifa historian Ofira Gruweis Kovalsky.

Begin became prime minister in 1977, marking the rise of Israel’s nationalist right and the decline of Ben-Gurion’s socialist camp.

The Altalena has remained an important symbol for Israel’s right.

In 2008, Israel built a monument on the Tel Aviv seafront to honour those killed in the Altalena affair. The country had also spent years searching for the wreck, including through some secret searches.

Discovery becomes part of election debate

The discovery has faced criticism from historians and commentators who say the Altalena is being used for political purposes ahead of the election.

Haaretz said the timing gave Netanyahu a chance to bring the old dispute back into the political debate and criticise the Israeli left.

Netanyahu has said he wants to raise the ship from the seabed and turn it into a symbol for future generations.

Historian Saul Friedlander has criticised the political use of the Altalena’s history.

Friedlander, a Holocaust historian, was 15 when he boarded the Altalena while trying to move to Israel. He was the only member of his family to survive World War Two. He was also a member of Habonim, a Zionist youth movement linked to Ben-Gurion.

Friedlander said the Altalena should not be used as election propaganda by the political right. He also said Begin had agreed to disband the Irgun and integrate its members into the Israeli military.

Can the wreck be raised?

Finding the Altalena does not mean that the ship can easily be brought back to the surface.

Ehud Galili, a maritime archaeology expert at the University of Haifa, said raising the ship would be very difficult and expensive.
The vessel weighs about 18,000 tonnes and appears to be partly buried in the clay seabed, Galili said.

He added that Israel does not currently have the equipment needed to carry out the operation.

How Israel found the Altalena?

Israel’s Heritage Ministry spent 1 million shekels, about $296,000, on the search for the wreck.

The ministry hired the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute through the Survey of Israel, the state agency responsible for mapping.

Israel’s national research vessel, the Bat Galim, was used in the search with advanced technology to find the wreck.

References: france24, cbsnews