Altalena

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Altalena
Model of the Altalena
Model of the Altalena
Ship data
flag IsraelIsrael Israel
other ship names

LST-138

Ship type Tank landing ship
The burning Altalena in front of Tel Aviv
Memorial stone on Tel Aviv beach

Altalena is the name of the ship with which the Irgun tried to ship troops and material to Israel in 1948. The Altalena was named after a pseudonym of the Zionist Zeev Jabotinsky ,who died in 1940.

The Altalena was originally supposed to reach Israel on May 15, 1948, the official day of the withdrawal of the British Mandate. However, buying weapons and organizing the action took more time than expected. The state of Israel had already been proclaimed on May 14, so that all plans were outdated. The Irgun in Israel had agreed to an agreement according to which their units should be integrated into the newly established Israel Defense Forces (Zahal). In return, you should refrain from buying any weapons.

On June 11, the Altalena left France with 940 fighters and weapons on board.

Irgun Headquarters in Paris did not inform their leaders in Israel because it feared the message might be intercepted. However, on the same day they heard about the ship's departure from Radio London .

On June 15, Menachem Begin and other Irgun leaders met with state officials to discuss how to proceed. It was agreed to let the ship land. The Irgun preferred Tel Aviv beach , while the state officials preferred Kfar Vitkin beach . There was also a dispute over the distribution of weapons. Among other things, Begin demanded that the Irgun battalions, which were newly integrated into the Israeli Defense Forces, be equipped with weapons, which state representatives contradicted and demanded that the weapons be handed over to the army.

In the late afternoon of June 20, the Altalena reached Kfar Vitkin, a beach north of the city of Netanya . Begin and other Irgun leaders waited on the beach when the Irgun fighters disembarked and unloaded the ship.

While the Irgun was unloading the Altalena on the beach at Kfar Vitkin , the members of the Provisional Government met in Tel Aviv. David Ben-Gurion had come to believe that the Irgun was a threat to the state. He called for the Irgun's unconditional surrender and surrender of all their weapons. The Israel Defense Forces were asked to do whatever was necessary to get the Irgun in Kfar Vitkin to surrender and to confiscate the ship and weapons. The commander of the " Alexandroni Brigade ", Dan Even , was charged with carrying out the order.

The next day, the area around Kfar Vitkin was surrounded extensively. Dan Even ultimately asked the Irgun to hand over the weapons. Under Menachem Begin, he gave the Irgun ten minutes to think it over. Begin could not or would not accept this ultimatum. The brigade attacked.

At the mediation of the settlers of Kfar Vitkin, a ceasefire was agreed and the handover of the weapons on the beach to the army began.

In the meantime, the Altalena was on board on the way to Tel Aviv. He hoped to get the rest of the weapons ashore there and, at the same time, to conduct new negotiations with the provisional government. But Ben Gurion ordered Jigael Jadin to immediately concentrate troops around Tel Aviv and take the ship by force. At 4 p.m. Ben Gurion gave the order to attack the Altalena . A grenade set the ship on fire.

The result of the action was the arrest of 200 Irgun fighters. 16 Irgun members and three IDF soldiers were killed in actions in Kfat Vitkin and Tel Aviv. Abraham Stavsky , one of the suspects in the Chaim Arlosoroff murder case, was among the twelve Altalena soldiers who died .

Most of the 200 Irgun activists were released after a few weeks. Five commanders (Moshe Hason, Eliyahu Lankin, Yaakov Meridor, Bezalel Amitzur and Hillel Kook ) were released on August 27, 1948 after a little over two months. All were later integrated into the Israeli army.

literature

  • Eran Kaplan: Altalena. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 1: A-Cl. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2011, ISBN 978-3-476-02501-2 , p. 50 (the following pages 51-55 are a short biography by Jabotinsky).

Web links

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