THE PLOT

The War of Independence continues. Arab forces blockaded the roadway that leads from Tel Aviv on the coast up into the hills towards Jerusalem. Israel was desperate to capture that road in order to bring relief, supplies, and defense to 100,000 Jews under siege in Jerusalem. 

Finally giving up on taking the fortress at Latrun, which overlooked the road, the Israelis decided to simply (but not easily!) build their own separate road that would circumvent the Arab forces. They called it the Burma Road, and over several weeks slowly turned it from a steep dirt path into a passable roadway, all the while under fire from the Arabs. Bulldozers were required to push supply trucks up the steepest sections. 

On June 11 the United Nations declared a cease-fire, though neither side was ready to back down. The Arabs wanted to reclaim territory they had already lost; and the Israelis wanted to consolidate their position and bring in more weapons.

Although the truce prohibited Israel bringing in more weapons, Ben Gurion insisted on secretly landing a cargo ship, the Altalena, which carried guns, ammo, and 900 Irgun fighters. The ship had been arranged by the Irgun, but, as part of the creation of a unified national army — the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) — the Irgun had to turn them over. Ben Gurion and the Irgun’s leader, Menachem Begin, argued fiercely over the weapons, with Ben Gurion threatening to use force to seize them. The IDF massed on the beach where the Altalena was moored, and shooting broke out. 

The Altalena sailed for Tel Aviv, with Begin on board. Off the most popular beach in Tel Aviv, the IDF, under the command of Yitzhak Rabin, fired on the ship. As the ship burned, Irgun fighters on the beach attacked the IDF — Jews fighting other Jews in the midst of Israel’s war for independence.

By the end of the day on June 22, after two days of fighting, 16 Irgun fighters and 3 IDF soldiers were dead. Both the Irgun and the Palmach were permanently broken up. The Altalena left bad blood in Israel’s political waters for decades; the ship became a symbol of right-wing martyrdom, while on the left Ben Gurion looked like a decisive leader.

A month after the truce went into effect, the fighting resumed.

THE PEOPLE

Menachem Begin: charismatic leader of the Irgun and future Prime Minister, he was on board the Altalena as the IDF attacked it in Tel Aviv. He refused to allow the Irgun to retaliate, sparing Israel what could have become a bloody civil war. 

Colonel Mickey Marcus: a Jewish American graduate of West Point who had a distinguished career during World War Two. Ben Gurion asked him to help train the Haganah. During the war, he appointed Marcus a general in command of the Jerusalem front. Marcus was accidentally killed by an Israeli sentry in the middle of the night. 

Dr. Ruth: 20 years-old and 4’7” tall, the future sex therapist trained as a sniper in the Haganah and was wounded by a Jordanian artillery strike during the defense of Jerusalem. 

THE BIG IDEAS

At the beginning stages of the war, David Ben Gurion established the IDF: the Israel Defense Forces, Tzava Haganah L’Yisrael. The national army was created by bringing together the four Jewish militias on the right and left of the political spectrum: the Haganah, Palmach, Irgun, and Lehi.  Although the idea was to blend these groups together into one unified army, the reality is that each group kept some of its own units, which led to significant conflict over the control of weapons — leading to the Altalena incident.

Ben Gurion emphasized the importance of a having a single, unified army under one command. A state, he argued, cannot have a splintered army following different leaders. Otherwise you risk un-democratic separatism and contradicting loyalties. This unified army would become a linchpin of Israeli society and identity.

The Altalena incident hardened political feelings on the left and right. On the left, Ben Gurion was seen as the decisive leader who made the necessary hard calls to forge a unified Israeli state. On the right, Ben Gurion and Rabin were murderers who almost tore the country apart. As for Menachem, it was his finest hour, as he maintained a steadfast leadership that averted a potential civil war. These divisions lasted even until today, when you’ll still occasionally hear Israeli politicians using the Altalena to attack their opponents

FUN FACTS

The first general in the Israeli army wasn’t Israeli, but instead the Jewish-American Colonel Mickey Marcus.

Before the Burma Road was completed, the Israelis would have to unload the trucks at one point, load supplies on mules, and trek miles through the night to re-load trucks on the other side, all the while under fire.

One of the first acts of the brand new Israeli Navy was to fire on a rowboat carrying future Prime Minister Menachem Begin. 

© Jason Harris 2020