Sunken ship sparks fight on Israel’s right over militia’s violent legacy

A race has emerged in right-wing Israeli politics over who can more closely associate themselves with Irgun, a militia implicated in the killing and torture of dozens of Palestinians during the 1948 war that led to the Nakba, the forced displacement of more than 750,000 Palestinians during the formation of the state of Israel.On Monday, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced the discovery of the wreck of the Irgun’s cargo vessel, the Altalena. The ship carried weapons from France to the paramilitary group before being sunk on the orders of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, in June 1948.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Turkiye accuses Israel’s Netanyahu of ‘genocide’, seeks Interpol warrantlist 2 of 4Palestinian victims of Israeli settler attacks face battle for justicelist 3 of 4Israeli forces raid UNRWA training centre in occupied East Jerusalemlist 4 of 4How Israel’s Netanyahu weaponises religion in his war rhetoricend of listAlerted to news of the vessel’s discovery, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party claims descent from the paramilitary group, was reported to have rushed to the Etzel Museum –...