Note: Although the Jewish Defense League believed slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was leading Israel down a road to self-destruction, we feel he should have been removed from office by ballots and not with bullets. However, Yitzhak Rabin was not the Jewish hero that he has been portrayed to be. Well, why don't you decide for yourself. . . .

During the War of Independence, there were two factions vying for leadership in Israel--the Irgun and the Palmach (part of the Hagana). The Irgun was able to get munitions supplies and a ship, the Altalena, for the war effort. When the Altalena neared the place it could have its cargo unloaded, Hagana leader David Ben-Gurion (later to become the first prime minister of modern-day Israel) ordered his men to sink the ship. As the ship was being fired on, it raised a white flag to mark its surrender; some of the wounded men and women jumped into the water to escape the gunfire and explosions--some in lifeboats, some not. The young officer in charge of the Hagana unit ordered his men to shoot the men struggling in the water. Eighteen innocent Jewish sailors--all members of the Irgun--were slaughtered.

If you want to read the whole story, get Aboard the Altalena by Doris Schick (published in 1951).