97-year-old Shlomo waited for weapons from the Altalena: "Today Jews will not shoot at Jews"

The discovery of the remains of the "Altalena" off the coast of Tel Aviv has resurfaced memories of one of the greatest dramas in the history of the country and reawakened the personal stories of those who were there on both sides of the barricades.

Shlomo Goldhor (97) was an Irgun fighter who went out with his friends to fight for Jerusalem. At only 17 and a half years old, he was among the fighters who fought with improvised and meager weapons and waited for new weapons to reach their hands and help them fight — the same weapons that were sunk with the Altalena ship.

"We fought very serious battles against the British and our risks were great as well. The battle for Malha, the battle for Deir Yassin, I participated in all the battles. I was saved by luck," says Goldhor today. "The Altalena arrived in the country according to the order of the provisional government. It was agreed to allocate 20% of the weapons to the Irgun battalion in Jerusalem, and the fate of Jerusalem was decided by the United Nations General Assembly, to be outside the Jewish state."

Goldhor tells of the longing for modern weapons to reach Jerusalem and help in the difficult fighting. "We fought in Jerusalem with meager and defective weapons, weapons that disappointed and endangered lives. All attempts to purchase weapons encountered difficulties due to the United Nations embargo. We had first-class bad weapons, which I am even ashamed to say what weapons we had. The Arab gangs controlled the intercity transport routes, and the road to Jerusalem was blocked, and the city was under siege. It was nearing despair. We fought them with meager and defective weapons," says Goldhor.

"Molotov cocktails against armored vehicles. Only defective self-made machine guns. When you wanted to shoot, it didn't shoot, it only shot when it wanted to shoot. The Altalena restored our self-confidence and the morale of the fighters received a boost. There was no limit to the outburst of joy when in our hearts was the expectation for the modern and advanced weapons."

Regarding the shooting at the Altalena, Goldhor says today that "they acted recklessly and ordered to open lethal fire instead of negotiating and preventing a tragic bloody clash that left a scar for generations. Against this, the position of Menachem Begin stood out with his sharp message, 'Civil war never.' Even if there are abysses between the leaders, it is possible to build bridges over them. It is only important to recognize that there is more in common than what separates. Hatred rose and disrupted the ability to prioritize the common goal. Innocent blood was spilled and the weapons went to the depths of the sea," says Goldhor.

Regarding the discovery of the Altalena, he says: "Look, after so many years, I don't know what they will take out, they will take out some scrap metal. If they take out the ship as it was, it's a fantastic situation. But I don't believe, after so many years, that the ship will be whole. They will just touch it and it will fall apart, but I wish they would take it out, because it is a historical asset."

"On one hand, maybe it's good that the ship sank," he said. "On the other hand, this is history that must be passed on to the children and grandchildren, so that they know what happened, and that the world in general knows what happened. Today sometimes people are ignorant. They don't know anything, sometimes it annoys me that they don't know elementary things about our history."

He concluded: "Today I think that such a thing cannot happen. We are a special people, an ancient and wise people. Today Jews will not shoot at Jews."

"Begin asked for a souvenir"

The discovery of the remains of the Altalena is deeply rooted in the memory of the family of the late Israel Sander, an Irgun fighter who survived the shelling on the deck and was later mistakenly considered an IDF casualty — and in the families of the late Benjamin Bubesh, a Navy man who received the mission to sink the ship in the open sea.

Israel Sander, father of Ariela Sander-Biron, was himself on the Altalena ship and came out unscathed. "My father ran away at age 16 from home in Romania and joined Betar," she said. "After that, they pulled him out in Italy. They trained and joined the underground and at some point they came to Israel on the Altalena. The ship was shelled and he managed to escape and came out unscathed. He did not talk about the bombing of the Altalena itself but did say that he lost friends and there were many Romanian immigrants there. There were many wounded. A friend who arrived with him from Romania was killed."

After the undergrounds were dismantled, Sander joined the IDF and was seriously wounded in the War of Independence: "They recruited the Irgun fighters into the Israel Defense Forces. In the War of Independence, which was a week after he was recruited, there was a battle in Latrun and a bag of grenades exploded. There were many dead. They came to collect the bodies and he was very seriously wounded, literally broken. He blinked and someone realized he was alive and they brought him to the hospital as an anonymous person because his family was in Romania. His family was notified that he was killed and they sat shiva for him. After months that he was in rehabilitation in Nahariya, his uncle was in Israel and they accidentally met on the street. His uncle fainted because he thought it was a resurrection of the dead. My father used to brag about it and tell everyone that it is a virtue for longevity. He used to walk around in his wallet with the obituary about him."

"My father passed away at age 65. He was a hero of Israel. The bravest person I know," says Sander-Biron. "When they say 'Altalena' I immediately think of my father. I felt that he was happy up there that they returned the ship because he loved the country very much and was a right-wing man in every fiber of his being. He was a Begin man and every year he would meet with people who fought there."

"My grandfather, Benjamin Bubesh, immigrated in 1936 to Israel," says Yaniv Simon. "At first he joined the British army and after the establishment of the state he joined the Navy. They received a mission to guard the Altalena which was stuck off the coast of Tel Aviv. While he was guarding the ship and also the weapons, Menachem Begin approached him and asked for a souvenir. My grandfather refused. He did not recognize him. Only later he found out that it was Menachem Begin."

"After that my grandfather, who was a technical man, received a mission to sink the ship in the open sea in a place he didn't know where," he describes. "It was a complex logistical event and he told me that they didn't tell them where exactly they were sinking it. Although my grandfather was a smart and serious man, he didn't know its location."

According to him, his grandfather had a camera that he walked around with and documented historical events: "My grandfather was an amateur photographer and walked around with a camera and photographed all sorts of things. These are likely the last photos of the Altalena before it was sunk. In real time he didn't understand the magnitude of the event. When I asked him if he agreed to publish the photos, he didn't want to and I don't know exactly the reason. Yesterday when it was published I immediately looked for the photo to publish it because there are no more photos of it from that same event and I think that at least for me it is an important part of the history of the country. Grandfather passed away five years ago at age 93. He did many amazing things during his life, was a true Zionist, established many settlements and received an award in the field of security."

His daughter Orna added: "It is exciting that the part of the ship was returned. It is part of history and for me it reminds me of what happens when there is a civil war, what one can reach. It is an event that was shocking but it shaped the country and united the ranks."