Congregation Ohav Sholom

Les Solomon - The Altalena

The details that follow of Les Solomon's life and most of the information about the Altalena were related by Les himself. I've filled in some of the missing pieces of Les' Altalena narrative with information from Menachem Begin's autobiography of his underground years, "The Revolt"and some secondary sources. Finally, I've also added my own interpretation of both the historical backdrop of the Altalena and the significance of the Altalena story within the evolving history of the modern State of Israel. Orphaned at a young age, Les was raised by the Jewish Board of Guardians in Brooklyn. He graduated from Brooklyn Tech High School, one of New YorkCity's finest public high schools. After serving in the Army as a Ranger during World War II, surviving the Normandy landing and being wounded both in Normandy and in Belgium, Les came home from Europe at war's end to nothing. His "home" was a boarding house on 47th St. in Manhattan.

One afternoon, while sitting in Bickford's cafeteria, a man sitting nearby,struck up a conversation with Les. The man learned that Les too was disturbed by the British policy of preventing Jewish immigration (even of holocaust survivors) to Palestine. He also learned that Les was a former Army Ranger, had a certificate in astral navigation and possessed acommercial radio license. He asked Les if he would be interested in sailing across theocean to smuggle Jews into Palestine. Les said why not, and was enlisted to the cause.

The boat that was to sail was an old World War II tank landing vessel, the LST-138. This happened to be a boat purchased by the Beitar movement, the Zionist movement led by Menachem Begin. Initially, interested parties wanted to call the boat the "Zev Jabotinsky," after the founder of the Beitar movement, but were advised against it. Since Jabotinsky used to write in Yiddish under a pen name "The Elter Learner" (The old student), theydisguised the name by calling the boat "The Altalena."

The Altalena would come to symbolize the fault lines in Israeli society, that existed from the time of the Yishuv until this very day; the divide between right and left, Labor (or Mapai) and Likud (or Herut), Begin and Ben-Gurion. At its root, the difference in outlook was based on two main points: 1) how each side intended to achieve independence (by fighting Britain or by negotiating with her) and 2) by the eventual boundaries of the independent Jewish state (in part of or in all of Eretz Yisrael). What would happen to the Altalena would deepen the chasm that already existed to a point where a possible civil war could have aborted the very existence of the state of Israel, aprecious few weeks after its birth. Such is the significance of the Altalena.

Before sailing, American volunteers were forewarned. "The U.S. government does not sanction what you are doing. Moreover, it's illegal. If you get caught you're on your own. The U.S. government won't help you." The Altalena sailed first from New York to Cuba for fuel and then crossed the Atlantic Ocean, docking in Genoa, Italy. While in Genoa, the British, who knew the purpose of the Altalena's voyage, sent two scuba divers to blow up theboat. When the bubbles of the divers got close to the rotors of the ship, the rotors started up and the divers were killed.

The Altalena sailed to Marseille and refueled there. Then a series of trips commenced from Marseille to Casa Blanca and back, transporting onions. The onions brought money and fuel. At Port-De-Bouc (near Marseilles), the boat was stripped and loaded with food, people and ammunition. Carpenters put up shelves and bunks for people. The crew began to sleep on deck, giving up their quarters for women and children. The refugees were let onboard in the middle of the night.

In "The Revolt," Menachem Begin lists the weapons which the Altalena carried as follows: 5,000 rifles, four million rounds of ammunition, 300 Bren guns, 150 spandaus, five caterpillar track armored vehicles, and thousands of air-combat bombs.

The Altalena arrived off the coast of Palestine at 3:00 A.M. on June 20, 1948. The flickering lights of Haifa were seen in the distance. The refugees came on deck, held hands and sang Hatikvah after seven days at seaand an ordeal of a war and a holocaust, which they had miraculously survived. The ship's captain, Monroe Fine while viewing this scene, told Les and the other volunteers: "This is the payback, boys!" According to Les: "That sight was worth the whole trip." However, this was merely the calm before the storm.

The refugees were to disembark at Kfar Vitkin, where Menachem Begin boarded. The boat was brought onto the beach. After some weapons and people were unloaded, the Altalena was fired on by a Canadian destroyer. Although the British had evacuated Palestine on Saturday May 15, 1948, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on May 29th, concerning a truce and also halting all immigration to Palestine of persons of military age. Under the pretext of attempting to enforce the Security Council resolution, the British fired on the Altalena. Several people on deck were killed, including three Cuban born volunteers. Now,under the command of Menachem Begin, it was decided to escape by sailing south to Tel-Aviv and attempting to land there. The Altalena sailed full steam ahead and skidded onto the beach at Tel-Aviv, near Frishman Street. Begin announced on the loud speaker that the boat was filled with refugees and weapons.

The aforementioned truce had officially taken effect on June 11th, between the Arabs and the Provisional Israeli Government, headed by David Ben-Gurion. The Provisional Government was the emergency government formed until elections could be held at some later date. (The young nation was after all embroiled at the time in a war of survival.) Artillery was brought in and under the command of Yitzchak Rabin, troops started firing on the Altalena. Begin, commanded not to fire back a single shot.

There was shooting all day and half the night. Soon the ammunition supply was hit as black smoke bellowed up and explosions could beseen and heard. To keep all the ammunition from exploding (and destroying alarge portion of Tel Aviv) the crew tried to flood the boat. Crew members and refugees were soon jumping overboard attempting to swim to shore in order to escape the unbearable heat on deck. This was also their best route to safety, despite being fired on, even in the water.

In the meantime, Les got thrown overboard by one of the explosions and swam south to Jaffa. He was picked up by two female members of the Irgun, who swept him up and brought him to the safety of a Jaffa basement. There, he met other surviving crew members. The Altalena burnt for about three days. Why did Ben-Gurion command troops to fire on the Altalena? Like all controversial events in history, the answer depends on the political views of those whom you ask. Several facts are indisputable. One is that the Altalena arrived in Israel at a time of flux in the newly formed Jewish state. Israeli independence had been declared about five weeks prior, on Friday May 14th 1948.

The British had officially evacuated Palestine the next day, at which time Egypt and Syria joined Transjordan and some Iraqi troopswhich had already been waging fierce battles in various parts of the country, even prior to May 14th. It was only on May 31st that under Ben-Gurion's orders, the Haganah gave up its underground status and became the Israel Defense Forces, the official army of the Jewish state. The Irgun and Stern Gang were invited to join them. So, a unified Israeli army was still in the process of forming. Since this process was not yet complete, there were still separate units of Irgun fighters which were not yet fully integrated into the newly formed Israeli army, and which were in dire need of weapons and ammunition (as were all those defending the newly formed state). As the Altalena was approaching the Israeli coast, the Irgun was negotiating with the Provisional Israeli Government to allocate one-fifth of the weapons and ammunition to Irgun units. The Provisional Government either feared an overt usurpation of its power by the Irgun (which would be suddenly strengthened by a massive supply of weapons and ammunition from the Altalena), or (in the view of Menachem Begin) wished to finally settle a political score with the Irgun and squelch its power, once and for all in the nation's infancy, under the guise of an attempted insurrection.

In Ben-Gurion's eyes, the Irgun was nothing more than a lawless gang of thugs and its actions were threatening the legitimacy of the Provisional Government as well as the unified front against the Arabs who were attacking Israel countrywide. Whatever the reasons, Ben-Gurion did not agree with the Irgun's terms and told the Irgun that they would receive no help in unloading weapons. Ben-Gurion disputed even this point and claimed that he did not negotiate at all with the Irgun and that the Irgun intended to distribute all the weapons on board to Irgun fighters only. In the end, not only was the Irgun on its own in unloading the boat, but the Provisional Government gave orders to fire on the Altalena.

If actions speak louder than words, then we can present one more indisputable fact: Despite large amounts of weapons on the Altalena, those on board would not return fire. Les Solomon confirmed as much. Menachem Begin ordered that his men not fire on other Jews, even though they were fired on, thus avoiding civil war.

Despite the open wound left by the Altalena, the underground leaders were wise enough to eventually give orders for all underground fighters to unite against their common enemy. This they did. But the remnants of the political differences, which erupted during the Altalena incident, are being played out to this very day but this time on the battlefield of Israeli politics.

November 2001

Next article: Israel's War of Independence - The Road to Jerusalem

Michael Rosenbloom is a member of Congregation Ohav Sholom. He can be reached at spidermr@aol.com.

Back to Tales of Survival.

Home