Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

In March, 1939, senior ITzL אצ"ל commanders from Palestine attended a course in the Beskidy mountains, instructed by Polish army officers, under great secrecy, such that the trainees wore civilian clothing, were not permitted to make contact with local Jews, and their letters home were sent via Switzerland, inserted in new envelopes, re-addressed to France, and finally posted to Palestine.
The trainees received military training and were taught tactics of guerilla warfare.
When the course ended, the trainees returned to Palestine, except for three who remained in Poland: Yaakov Meridor, who was responsible for dispatching the weapons received from the Polish army; Shlomo Ben Shlomo, who organized a commanders course for selected members of ITzl אצ"ל cells in Poland, and Zvi Meltzer, who organized a similar course in Lithuania.

When Menahem Begin assumed Command of ITzL אצ"ל, Yaakov Meridor served as his deputy.

February 13, 1945, with cooperation of the Jewish Agency and the Haganah British raided the supreme operations command of ETZL,and arrested Yaakov Meridor.
A telegram to London cited: "The arrest was carried out thanks to information received from the Jewish Agency".
He was sent to detainment camps in Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya.
In 1948, after several unsuccessful attempts, Yaakov Meridor escaped from detention, and made his way to Paris.

Yaakov Meridor was arrested by British during the Season.

The Scotsman, Thursday, April 8, 1948, cited Yaakov Meridor's first command was the raid on Pardes Hannah פרדס חנה military camp, in which 6 British soldiers and their commanding officer, Lieut-Colonel G.L. Hilderbrand, were killed.

Hillel Daleski. was a Haganah recruit who had been in Palestine for only two months, when he was ordered to fire the artillery cannon that destroyed Altalena.
Machal.org.il cites: "Hillel (Billy) Daleski. Billy, an expert artillery man who had served with the South African Defense Forces in World War II, was commanded by Yitzhak Rabin who was in command of the Government troops, to fire at the Altalena. When Billy refused the order, he was threatened with a court martial and so he fired the mortar."
On June 20, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed in his Tutach HaKadish Holy Cannon Speech to the State Council: “Blessed be the cannon that bombed that ship!”

Yaakov Meridor was arrested for 10 days.

Yosef Nachmias, a company commander on board Altalena אלטלנה, cites: Menachem Begin, on the shore, said:
“Don’t fire back!” There will be no war between brothers! The first and second House of David was destroyed by brother hate ... There won’t be a destruction of the third House of Israel!”
Menachem Begin went out to Altalena אלטלנה, and from the command position of the bridge, and using loudspeaker saying - "Don’t fire back!” “Let them kill us all!” “We will never lift a hand on a Jew!”
He then sent Yoske Nachmias to negotiate, saying:
“Yoske - go ashore and with negotiation try to stop the fighting! You are going down without any arms ... You are going only with the ‘wireless’.”
Machal.org.il cites: "After the Altalena had run aground on the beach at Tel Aviv, the IAF was put on standby to attack the ship if necessary. Machal aircrews informed Aluf Aharon Remez, Chief of Air Force, that they would refuse to carry out such an order as they had not volunteered from abroad to fight against fellow-Jews, and that the Chief of Air Force had two options – either to court martial those who refused his order, or to discharge them from the service, and happily the standby order was promptly rescinded."
Yosef Nachmias cites: the refusal of his own brother, a Palmach fighter, to shoot at the ship because he knew that his sibling was on board, meant for him, that killing brothers was not merely a metaphor.
Jerold S. Auerbach cites: "Begin commanded his loyal fighters not to return fire. His insistence upon restraint demonstrated his unyielding determination to prevent civil war from once again dividing the Jewish people and shattering Jewish sovereignty, as it had done nineteen centuries earlier.”

Yosef Nachmias served in the ITzL אצ"ל company sent to unload the cargo aboard Altalena אלטלנה.
His brother was part of the Palmach פלמ"ח forces on the beach, and was ordered to shoot at Altalena אלטלנה, but, knowing that his brother was on the boat, he refused to shoot.

Yael Sherez, age 16 years old, was a Palmach fighter, who followed orders and shot at Altalena.

Boris Senior was ordered to bomb Altalena, but was enraged by the prospect and intended to drop the bombs elsewhere, but the mission was cancelled.

Hilary Dilesky, who had arrived in Israel only two months earlier, commanded the battery that was chosen to fire the first shot.
Hilary Dilesky cites: After receiving the orders, “I suddenly was struck with a heavy, deep feeling that I didn’t want to shoot.”
He told his corps commander, in English: “I hadn’t come to Israel to fight Jews.”
The commander responded that his job was to obey orders.
Hilary Dilesky cites: he realized that “following orders was the right thing to do, but my heart was broken when we began firing. This has been a burden all my life, and still is.”

In 1949, Yehiel Weinshiel Duvdevani was on the Mapai מפא"י‎ list to the First Knesset.

In 1949, Yaakov Meridor, one of the founders of Herut, was elected to the Knesset in Israel's first elections.

In 1949, Moshe Sharett was on the Mapai מפא"י‎ list to the First Knesset, and served as a MK Member of the Knesset until and throughout the Fifth Knesset, in 1961.