In May 1948, Israel declared independence and was attacked by all its neighbors and needed major supplies. A cargo ship, the Altalena, was sailing from France filled with fighters, and thousands of rifles, machine guns, and other weaponry. It was intended for the Irgun, a paramilitary group.
However, due to prime minister David Ben Gurion’s fear of the Irgun, there was a fallout with its leader Menachem Begin. He refused to hand the weapons over to the government. In retaliation, the ship was shelled once it reached a shallow Tel Aviv beach. In that fight, 16 Irgun fighters died, as well as three IDF soldiers. The ship sank and its cargo was lost.
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2003
White City of Tel-Aviv – the Modern Movement
Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 and developed as a metropolitan city under the British Mandate in Palestine. The White City was constructed from the early 1930s until the 1950s, based on the urban plan by Sir Patrick Geddes, reflecting modern organic plann…
