
Found After 78 Years: The Altalena Located Intact on the Mediterranean Seabed
The wreck of the ship Altalena has been located intact on the Mediterranean seabed, 78 years after its sinking, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Heritage Ministry announced on Monday, August 24. The Heritage Ministry said the ship was found at a depth of 503 meters, some 20 kilometers off Israel's coast.
The discovery revives one of the most contentious episodes in Israel's early history, when the newly established IDF and the Irgun came close to wider internecine fighting only weeks after independence. The Altalena arrived off the Israeli coast in June 1948, carrying hundreds of immigrants to the new Jewish state, as well as Irgun fighters and a large shipment of weapons and ammunition intended for use in the War of Independence.
The Irgun, also known as Etzel, was a pre-state Jewish underground organization led by Menachem Begin that had fought British rule and Arab forces before Israel's establishment as a modern state. The location of the vessel, preserved deep beneath the Mediterranean for nearly eight decades, now brings one of the founding chapters of the nation's story back into view.
(JPost/VFI News)
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