Page 117 - ISRAEL'S CRADLE

The affair beginning - was in Italy. In those days, a political and military struggle raged between the Jewish Yishuv in the Land of Israel and the government of the British Mandate. The three Jewish underground organizations – The "Haganah," Irgun and Lehi – had joined hands to form the Jewish Resistance Movement. At the same time, ships filled with hundreds and thousands of Holocaust survivors, who were considered "illegal" immigrants by the British, were sailing to the shores of the Land of Israel.
In the early days of April 1946, a convoy of Olim, over a thousand Holocaust survivors, had organized in Italy and made its way in trucks of the Jewish Brigade to the Port of La Spezia, in northwestern Italy. An old and rusted ship name "Fedeh", which was purchased and prepared for travel by the "Mossad LeAliyah Bet" of the “Haganah“ with the assistance of the Palyam men – the naval arm of the Palmach.
All had been prepared for the voyage, yet a huge mishap had occurred near La Spezia. An Italian police officer had suspected that the truck convoy was carrying several hundred fascists,
The fast in La Spezia which led to the fast in Jerusalem
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