An important event in the
pre-history of
Israel.
It was 1940. World War II was well underway, and Palestine was under British Mandate. Jews from around the world had begun migrating en masse to Palestine. As part of its policy of balancing the Jewish and Palestinian population, the British Mandate had decided to impose quotas on the number of Jewish immigrants; however, these quotas were not being adhered to.
The British took a stance that the migrants from three recently arriving ships (the Pacific, the Milos and the Atlantic) would be deported to Mauritius until after World War II. Approximately 1800 people were placed on the Patria, destined for Mauritius.
The Haganah (a terrorist Israeli group) was opposed to the British Mandate's limits on migration and planned to sabotage the deportation, using a mine.
Unfortunately, this plan ended in disaster. The ship suffered much more damage than expected -- and the 12,000-ton liner sunk in just 15 minutes, taking 250 lives with it (approximately 200 Jews and 50 British soldiers).