Altalena Affair פרשת אלטלנה

In June 1948, during the first truce of the War of Independence, the ship Altalena arrived with about 940 volunteers and a large cargo of arms for the Irgun. The new government under David Ben-Gurion insisted that all weapons belong to the Israel Defense Forces. After fighting at Kfar Vitkin, the ship was shelled off the Tel Aviv beach on 22 June and burned. Sixteen Irgun men and three soldiers were killed. Menachem Begin told his followers not to answer with civil war, and the state kept one army.