November 16, 1947
The Aliyah Bet (illegal immigration) ship Kadima (sometimes called the Kedma) arrives in Haifa under British escort. and all of its passengers are arrested and sent to detention camps in Cyprus.
On November 5, the Kadima left from the island of Palestrina, just south of Venice, with nearly 800 Jewish refugees, mostly from Poland and Hungary, hoping to make their way to the Land of Israel. The passengers include more than 100 children under the age of 3 and 70 refugees from the Exodus.
On November 15, a British scout plane spotted the ship, and soon after a British destroyer intercepted it, accompanying it to Haifa. Because the ship is in poor condition carries so many children, the Mossad leaders on board decide not to offer any resistance to the British. As the ship enters the Haifa harbor, the passengers are heard singing “Hatikvah.”
In Haifa, the passengers are transferred to the vessel Runnymede Park and brought to Cyprus. Possessions are confiscated and searched before being returned to them in Cyprus. On November 17, the 781 refugees arrive at the Xylotymbou camp in Cyprus.
On the same day that the Kadima left Italy, a second ship, the Albertina, departed from France with 182 refugees. The two ships were supposed to meet at sea, and the passengers from the Albertina, renamed the Aliya, were to transfer to the Kadima. Because of radio problems, the rendezvous never took place.
The Aliya evades the British and beaches off the coast of Nahariya. The passengers swiftly disembark and board buses, which scatter them among surrounding settlements. On the ship, the British find a banner in Hebrew that reads, “Shame on Britain for continuing the White Paper policy.” The 1939 White Paper set restrictions on the number of Jews allowed into Palestine and was rescinded only upon Israel’s independence in May 1948.
At the end of the British Mandate, the Kadima joins the Israeli merchant marine, then is retired in 1951.
