The rediscovery of the Altalena has revived an previous Israeli fault line, however beneath it lies a broad consensus on Jewish supremacy, occupation and army power.
Revealed On 27 Aug 2026
On August 24, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood exterior the Etzel Museum on Tel Aviv’s seafront after the wreck of the Altalena was found. The ship, which belonged to the right-wing Zionist paramilitary organisation Etzel, was shelled by the newly fashioned Israeli army in 1948. Netanyahu promised to lift it from the seabed and switch it into an emblem for future generations, centred on the message: “Civil conflict, by no means once more.”
Etzel, higher identified in English as Irgun, promoted a extremely nationalistic imaginative and prescient of Jewish political life and advocated Jewish army supremacy. It had operated as an impartial armed organisation earlier than Israel’s institution and resisted surrendering its weapons and autonomy to the brand new state. In June 1948, because it was being absorbed into the newly fashioned Israeli army, the Altalena arrived carrying greater than 900 immigrants, medical provides and a big cargo of weapons. Irgun and the federal government couldn’t agree on management of the arms, and the dispute escalated into combating. After an preliminary confrontation north of Tel Aviv, the ship sailed south in direction of the town. Left-wing Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion ordered Israeli forces to shell it off Tel Aviv. Etzel chief Menachem Start, who was on board, urged his supporters to not retaliate and warned in opposition to civil conflict.
For the Israeli proper, the Altalena grew to become an emblem of the left’s willingness to make use of power in opposition to fellow Jews to impose its political authority. The episode endured as a historic grievance, but it surely by no means grew to become a relentless characteristic of Israeli political life. For many years, it largely remained a symbolic story, invoked once in a while earlier than progressively receding into historic reminiscence. Its rediscovery in the course of an election marketing campaign has abruptly revived that symbolism. By invoking Start’s warning in opposition to civil conflict whereas resurrecting one of many proper’s oldest grievances in opposition to the left, Netanyahu was not merely calling for unity. He was additionally issuing a veiled menace: We keep in mind what you probably did. If want be, we are going to come for you as you got here for us.
Nonetheless, is Israel actually headed for a civil conflict? This appears extremely unlikely. The reason being easy: Israelis in the end agree with one another. There is no such thing as a deep ideological divide inside Israeli public opinion. As an alternative, there’s a broad and deep consensus. Safety is the cornerstone of Israeli public life and identification, overriding all different issues. The first function of the Israeli state is to maintain Jews alive, ideally by establishing their supremacy over their neighbours, before everything the Palestinians, with whom they’re competing for management of the identical assets. Safety is taken into account “apolitical”. The October 7, 2023 assaults modified Israel’s safety doctrine just about in a single day. Notions resembling peace or normalisation have been not suitable with a safety doctrine centred on guaranteeing the security of Jews.
Israel wanted to have the ability to struggle when, the place and the way it noticed match. Israel wanted to extend its already unprecedented impunity and safe permission to train full discretion in pursuing its aggressive insurance policies. All Jewish political events – with “Zionist” now successfully serving because the code phrase for “Jewish” – agreed on this, even when they’d variations of opinion concerning scope. That is, in different phrases, an settlement to make sure Jewish supremacy in Israel, to not even contemplate ending the occupation – which the Worldwide Court docket of Justice has discovered illegal – and to proceed a perpetually conflict that gives Israel with justification to “carry the struggle to the enemy”, wherever that is perhaps.
In concrete political phrases, which means that the Israeli public could abhor Netanyahu’s private ethics and requirements of behaviour, however the nice majority nonetheless agrees along with his insurance policies. Studying the Hebrew press and social media, it’s not tough to see that, excluding, at most a number of thousand folks, Israeli Jews are keen to dwell with this rigidity and assist Israel’s genocidal insurance policies without end.
This consensus is deeper and extra highly effective than symbolic video games performed with out of date relics. The Israeli army would by no means fireplace on settlers making an attempt to drive Palestinians from their properties. The Israeli army continues to be Israel: it’s the crucible through which Israeli nationalism has been cast. So long as Jewish supremacy stays the cornerstone of the Israeli army and the Israeli state, there can be no civil conflict.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
