The Altalena is the ship that cannot stay sunk

(RNS) — It might not be the same thing as the attempts to raise the Titanic, but for Israel, it comes pretty close.

Israel has found the Altalena.

Seventy-eight years after the Israeli army sent artillery shells into her hull off the Tel Aviv coast, the wreck has turned up 503 meters down, about 20 kilometers offshore. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called it a moment for closing a historical circle. Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu called it a defining moment for the nation’s memory.

Some history .

In the years before the founding of the Jewish state, there were two rival military groups. There was the Haganah — literally, “defense.” They would become the official armed forces of the state — the Israel Defense Forces, or Tzahal. Their modus operandi was “havlagah” — restraint — to fight as much as necessary, but little more. Second, there was the Irgun — the more militant paramilitary group, whose leader was Menachem Begin. They utilized tactics some would call terrorism — for example, blowing up the King David Hotel, killing 91 people, including 28 British soldiers and others.

In June 1948, three weeks after David Ben-Gurion declared the state of Israel,…