Arabic version: حطام «ألتالينا» يؤجج التنافس داخل اليمين الإسرائيلي

According to Al Jazeera, the discovery of the wreck of the Altalena has prompted a contest in Israeli right-wing politics over the legacy of Irgun, the paramilitary group the vessel supplied with weapons in 1948. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced the find on Monday. The ship, which carried arms from France, was sunk in June 1948 on the orders of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party claims descent from Irgun, went to the Etzel Museum near Jaffa after news of the discovery. He issued a video address from the same building as Ben-Gvir, seeking to reclaim the ship’s symbolism for his own base. Netanyahu recalled that Irgun commander Menachem Begin had told fighters not to return fire after Israeli forces fired on them, and condemned what he called “absurd” attacks on himself and Likud.

The Altalena was sunk during a dispute over whether Irgun or the Israeli military would control its weapons, an episode that raised fears of civil war. Irgun and Lehi were responsible for major violence during the Nakba, including the April 1948 killing of more than 100 villagers in Deir Yassin, according to the report. Israeli sociologist Yehouda Shenhav-Shahrabani described Irgun as a “fascist, anti-Arab organisation” while arguing that responsibility for the Nakba should not be assigned solely to the group.

Recent polls cited by Al Jazeera show Likud trailing former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar Party before October elections. Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University said the discovery mattered chiefly to the contest between Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir rather than to most voters. Chatham House fellow Yossi Mekelberg said Ben-Gvir was “out-Netanyahuing Netanyahu” and warned that rhetoric about civil war, while largely intended to generate headlines, remained dangerous.