Following this morning's announcement that the wreckage of the Altalena had been located 503 meters deep off Israel's coast, businessman and philanthropist Noam Lenir published a deeply personal account revealing his family's direct connection to the 1948 tragedy.
Lenir, who controls and serves as CEO of investment firm Livermore, wrote that his WhatsApp "exploded" with news of the discovery, triggering memories of a family story that has shadowed him throughout his life.
His father, Lt. Col. Avi Lenir, who commanded Squadron 101 and was captured by Syria during the Yom Kippur War where he was tortured to death, was only eight and a half years old in June 1948 when he heard his uncle Eliahu had arrived on Israel's shores commanding a large weapons ship.
The excited boy ran to Tel Aviv's beach and witnessed the unfolding drama, unaware that moments earlier, Air Force pilots had dramatically refused orders to attack the vessel, and that all those pilots served in Squadron 101, the very unit his father would command 23 years later.
The ship was bombarded and sank not far from shore. Many jumped overboard, while others paid with their lives before the eyes of a stunned public. Uncle Eliyahu was Eliyahu Lankin, the Irgun commander in Jerusalem and captain of the Altalena itself. Unable to swim, he was the last to jump from the burning ship, leaping onto the back of skipper Monroe Fein, who carried him to shore.
The two fled to the home of Avi's father, Noam's grandfather, at 60 Maze Street in Tel Aviv. But that evening, IDF soldiers surrounded the house with drawn weapons and arrested both Lankin and the chief navigator.
