Reveling in Altalena discovery, Ben Gvir takes implicit jab at Netanyahu, seems to liken himself to Begin

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says the finding of the Altalena — the right-wing Irgun militia’s gun-running ship that was sunk by the fledgling IDF in June 1948 — closes the “bleeding wound” of marginalization of the Israeli right.

And in an implicit jab at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dodging a joint photo-op with him at the event, he appears to liken himself to Menachem Begin, the leader of the Irgun who later became prime minister.

Speaking at a press conference at the Etzel Museum, named for the Irgun’s Hebrew acronym, on the beach near Jaffa, Ben Gvir begins his comments with the “Shehecheyanu,” a traditional Jewish blessing for watershed moments.

“For decades they’ve tried to hide this wound, to silence this story,” Ben Gvir says, without specifying whom he is accusing.

The ship, which carried firearms and hundreds of Jewish refugees, is “a symbol of the national camp, led by Menachem Begin,” Ben Gvir says.

After the IDF bombed the Altalena, Begin famously ordered his men to stand down rather than fight other Jews.

“In the face of all the prosecution, Menachem Begin held to his truth, with one very clear belief: We are brothers, the entire House of Israel — it doesn’t matter what our origins, color or ethnicity are, or what party we vote for. There will never be a civil war,” Ben Gvir says. “Against our enemies, we must not blink, be confused or show compassion. But with our brothers, we need to be together.”

Ben Gvir also notes at the press conference that Begin was “familiar with boycott.”

“He knew, intimately, what it tastes like when others don’t want to be photographed with you on the same stage,” says Ben Gvir.

The comment comes after Netanyahu released his own statement from the Tel Aviv promenade in honor of the Altalena discovery, but avoided coming to the press conference where Ben Gvir spoke.

Ben Gvir himself was long a pariah in Israeli politics because he was a disciple of the slain extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane.

Sources close to Ben Gvir are cited in Hebrew media as saying that Netanyahu decided to split off from Ben Gvir at the last moment “to avoid contact and a joint photograph.”