So Ben-Gurion, the messiah of secularism is probably spinning in his grave. The ship was crewed by his political enemies. That is why he ordered it to be destroyed. A totally undeserving man to be PM. The only ones who I see that can oppose this are the ultra seculars, who have spent their entire lives sweeping their despicable acts under the rug.

You myopic whoever - this IS a symbolic indication of Zion values revival and overall turn to the Right - essential for the Jewish state's survival: Glory Haleluyah

Your tax shekel is paying for a great many more things. My tax shekel (lots and lots of shekels, actually), pays to house and feed thousands of illegal African aliens and Arab terrorists. IMy tax shekels (lots and lots of them, actually), pays to support and succor left-wing activist self-hating Israeli NGOs So what is your problem with actually paying for a piece of (despicable) history? Doesn't meet your social program? Too effing bad. Write a letter.

state may never been established .

It is possible that the events and decisions leading to the confrontation could have played out differently avoiding a loss of life. However, Ben Gurion was correct that Begin's power play could not be tolerated and the fledgeling state required one army under a single command. It is important to recall that the left leaning Palmach (a larger and far more important and effective force than the Irgun)was also, against the desires of many of it's officers, integrated under the command of the IDF. BG made the right call in a difficult situation and protected the integrity and unity of Israel.

attention to the crimes of the forerunners of today's Meretz &Co: the bloody, bolshevik Mapainiks! -True granddadies of Useful Idiots: then in service of the Soviet fascists today in service of the Arab, neonazi movement! Bring her up, by all means!

was aboard the Altlania, most where concentration camp survivors. It was kept under wraps by the leftish government because those on board where due for Irgun recruitment. So you all see that BG was also a jew killer, and most treat him as a national hero. There was no need to sink that ship!!!

And wasn't it him who was so efficient in sinking the ship but hapless when confronted by terrorists led by the man he had embraced,Yasser ?

Atlantena is a major part of the countries history which is why provided the cost is within reason and if possible it should be raised or at the very least part of it should be raised as was done with the sunken submarine INS Dakar. Everybody is entitled to a share of the budget including historical preservation. Ben Gurion showed courage and did the right thing when he ordered the ship to be sunk because he was showing all the armed gangs who was in charge now. Its one things to be revolutionaries but once there is no longer a revolution to fight they cannot continue and a country can have only one army and that army must be loyal to the state and the state alone. Its the kind of courage that governments in countries like Lebanon need to take towards Hezbollah. We need politicians with courage today but sadly we haven't had anybody for decades.

would they seek to raise the ghosts of what could have been a civil war. David Ben Gurion (who many of the TBers here have insanely derided!!!) used preventative force that prevented Israel from descending nearly every post-colonial state in the 20th century; bloody civil war. Now this strange creature of a government wants to raise the Atlenta? God help us all. The wingnuts are in ascent and there will be blood unfortunately

was on the ALTALENA but was one of the few lucky people to escape the carnage as a some people were allowed to disembark in Kfar Motzkin...

and how efficient was PM Mr. Netanyahu when it came to the Masha'al affair in Jordan? What did the PM Mr. Netanyahu do? He capitulated immediately sent the antidote AND released the leader of HAMAS Sheik Ahmed Yassin ... These two actions back in the 90s unleased the worst ever reign of terror from the HAMAS that Israel had ever seen. or did you forget that already number 11?

One does question Netanyahu's motives to locate the wreck now, must have decided find a lump of iron at the bottom of the sea is a higher priority than housing, feeding and clothing holocaust survivors. An enduring scandal in my country, which was founded on their suffering.

Alternative history is always fun but unfortunately the actual incident was mostly tragic with little heroism. First, almost all new Olim disembarked peacefully at kfar vitkin and armed confrontation was between Irgun loyalists and troops under the direction of the newly formed government. In the fighting 19 people died. Of the 16 dead on Begin's side three were new Olim. The ship was not sunk with people on board but after the surrender taken out to sea and sunk. Many brave fighters of the Irgun fought and died in the 1948. However as a formal military organization in the run up to the Arab invasion they had few competent leaders and fewer successes. I'll leave it for others to argue whether their terrorist activities before 48 was on balance useful or not.

Bravo Sara" sock to them" Them being all the fekakte leftists

The opposite is of course true. The Stae of Israel, its achievements and its future are largely in the hands of secular people. It is the orthodox in the end who are more likley to drag us all 9& themselves) down through irrationality and intransigence (& the kind of hate talk shown in the comment to which this is a rejoinder)

We can't hide from the fact that Aletena is part of the countries history and so it is worth raising if possible. It may even serve as a reminder to Israelis today a country can have just one armed force and it must be answerable to the elected government and the government alone. Ben Gurion had to make tough choices but he didn't run away from them. Who knows maybe the likes of Lebanon will be inspired by Ben Gurion's courage in making the hard decision he did and forcibly disarm Hezbollah.

Merci beaucoup!

You are SUCH a twit. Do you have any idea at all how long the search for the ALTALENA has been underway? Obviously, you do not. Allow me to educate you: thirty years, at least. Possibly longer. Perhaps you should do a little research before blowing your ridiculous posts out of your nether region. You are SUCH an imbecile; how can you even stand being alive? You should look into that -- the gene pool very definitely does not need morons such as yourself.

May I respectfully remind you, sir, that it is not so much the Jews that have kept Shabbat as Shabbat that has kept the Jews? I grant you that some of the ultra-Orthodox need to be jettisoned -- the Neturei Karta and the Satmer -- but the balance of the Orthodox Jews, and certain ultra-Orthodox sects, are essential to our survival as a people. Please do keep that in mind before throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Why don't you just donate $50,000 to the housing, feeding and clothing of Holocaust survivors? It's not exactly a great deal of money -- I donate quite a few times that sum each year to quite a few Jewish philanthropies, including the care of Jewish Holocaust survivors (my parents, z"l, were Holocaust survivors). Why not just stick a crowbar in your wallet and pry out some funds? Or are you too self-obsessed and selfish, and want everyone else to do something while you sit by, watch, and offer up inane (or should that be insane?) commentary? By the way, you never answered my question (posed to you on several occasions) -- what did you do in the IDF? Did you even serve? And if you did not -- which I strongly suspect to be the case -- what right do you have to question anyone else's loyalty and service to the State of Israel? Do you have any idea at all how many giborei Israel hold dual citizenships and two passports? While you (presumably, given the tenor of your posts) hold only one and have never done anything at all in the service of Medinat Israel. Or are you simply keeping your British passport in reserve?

Look how far our IDF has come... we are NOW a peace loving liberal democracy

True Irgun & Stern do deserve thanks for their role pre state but once the state was established there was no place for them anymore we had an IDF to take responsibility for the countries security and we could not have other armed gangs running around with their own agenda. If Ben Gurion hadn't done what he did Israel may well have had its own Hezbollah which is willing to turn its weapons on anybody ( including the national army ) to push their own political agenda. We like to think of them as heros but they could have just as easily been Israel's Hezbollah if they had been allowed to continue to operate once the state had been formed.

The Irgun has already agreed to join the IDF by the time the ship had sailed. The only separate faction were those that were defending the old city of Jerusalem and had no intention of taking over the IDF. The only person who moved Israel closer to civil war was Ben Gurion by firing on the Irgun. The members who were aboard the ship, after it had unloaded, abandoned ship and waved the white flag of surrender. Some of the men who jumped were shot by IDF fire while in the water. Completely unnecessary.

of sad history...

You may think what you like but rhetoric and fine phrases are no defense against reality. Reality is that success is brought about by rational thinking and a reality-based assessment of one's environment. Religious thinking, in my personal history that would be yekkish orthodoxy, gives scant respect to all that and when it becomes arrogant constitutes a threat and a danger. What was ultimately important in "Torah im derech-eretz" was actually just the derech-eretz on its own. In the end , for all my sympathy for those still caught up in the romance of frumkeit, there is no gainsaying the obvious. The cart that thought itself full is indeed full but not fruitful; the real goods are in the other cart.