Altalena wreck discovery deepens rift between Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir

The discovery of the wreck of the Altalena, a cargo vessel sunk in June 1948, has intensified a public rivalry between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Both leaders are competing to associate themselves with the Irgun militia, which operated the ship, as they vie for influence ahead of critical elections in October.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced the discovery of the wreck on Monday, a move that appears to have caught the Prime Minister off guard. In response, Netanyahu released a rival video address from the Etzel Museum near Jaffa, a site named after the Irgun’s Hebrew acronym, in an attempt to reclaim the symbolism for his Likud party. The museum is the same building from which Ben-Gvir made his initial announcement.

The Altalena had carried weapons from France to the Irgun before being sunk on the orders of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, due to a dispute over control of the arms. That episode had previously triggered fears of a civil war between Israeli factions. Netanyahu invoked this history in his address, drawing a parallel between himself and former Irgun commander Menachem Begin, who had ordered his fighters not to fire back during the conflict.

Netanyahu denounced what he described as “absurd” attacks against him and the Likud party, calling for unity among political rivals. “We are brothers – political rivals, but we are brothers, sons of one nation with one future and one destiny,” he said. Ben-Gvir, however, countered by comparing himself to Begin, noting that the former leader knew “what it tastes like when others don’t want to be photographed with you,” after Netanyahu declined to pose with him.

The dispute occurs against a backdrop of significant political pressure for Netanyahu, who faces potential prison sentences on corruption charges dating back to 2019 and an official reckoning for government failures ahead of the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. Current polls indicate that Netanyahu’s Likud party is trailing Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar Party, with far-right voters potentially being decisive in the upcoming vote.

Historians view the schism between the Irgun and the main body of the Israeli military as a lasting faultline in Israeli politics. The Irgun was a paramilitary group implicated in the killing and torture of dozens of Palestinians during the 1948 war, including the Deir Yassin massacre. While some analysts suggest the discovery is largely a battle for headlines between the two leaders, the symbolic weight of the Irgun’s violent legacy remains central to the political narrative.