In June 20, 1948 a ship called The Altalena(a pen name used by Zeev Jabotinsky) purchased by the Irgun movement arrived at the coast of Tel-Aviv carrying 820 men and tons of ammunition. David ben-Gurion, then the leader of the provisional government demanded that all weapons be handed over to the IDF and that no dissident armed forces would be tolerated. On June 23 when negotiation have failed Ben Gurion ordered the army to take down the ship, 16 men died in the attack and the ship was lost.
The Altalena affair marked the end of the guerrilla movements which led the armed liberation front of pre-mandated Israel, It was a brutal stab in the back as the early days government tried to shake off its roots and base itself in the world arena as the legitimate representitive of Israel.