A flag of Israel, which was removed from the mast of the illegal immigration ship “Yetziat Europa 1947” (“Exodus”). The flag offered here was removed from the mast of “Exodus” which anchored in Haifa on July 18, 1947, by Mike (Michael) Weiss, an American “Machal” volunteer who served as a boatswain-carpenter on the ship. Weiss was a member of a volunteers’ group enlisted to serve as the ship’s crew immediately after it was purchased in the United States, when it was still “SS President Warfield”. The crew, drafted in the United States, consisted mainly of Jewish-American volunteers. After disembarking the ship in Haifa, Weiss was deported, with some other crew members, to Atlit Detention Camp; when he was released from the camp he returned to the United States (Weiss’s name appears on the lists of “Exodus” crew members as well as in the lists of prisoners in Atlit Detention Camp). Weiss lived in Philadelphia and having no children, he gave the flag in 1977 to his friend in Jerusalem, Rabbi Hillel Kolidetsky. Weiss added some inscriptions on the margins of the flag, indicating its history: “C/B. Mike Weiss”, “S.S. Exodus 4-10-46” [it seems that this date marks the date of Weiss’s enlistment to Mahal], “Form[er]ly S.S. Pres- Warfield”, and “13 Camp Atlit”. In a “British Pathé” newsreel documenting the “Exodus” in the port of Haifa, Weiss is seen climbing the ship’s mast and removing the flag ( see link, min. 02:30). 150X85 cm. Overall good condition. Stains, folding marks and creases. Enclosed is a certificate from Rabbi Hillel Kolidetsky. The illegal immigration ship “Exodus” sailed to Eretz Israel from the port of Sète, near Marseille, on July 11, 1947 at 05:00 am, with some 4500 holocaust survivors and 70 crew members on board. On July 18, 1947, at dawn, just 24 hours before the scheduled arrival at the coastline of Eretz Israel, a British destroyers rammed the “Exodus”. At the time, the ship was some 20 miles from the Gaza Shore. Fifty British soldiers boarded the ship firing smoke bombs and tear-gas grenades. The soldiers were attacked with “ammunition” prepared ahead of time which led the British soldiers to respond with live fire. After a struggle, which caused the death of three passengers and the first officer Bill Bernstein, and tens of casualties, Yossi Harel, the ship’s commander, surrendered. The ship sailed to Haifa where the passengers were forced to disembark. Chairman of the UNSCOP committee and a committee member from Yugoslavia, who were at the time in the country, responded to Moshe Sharett’s call (Sharett was head of the Jewish Agency Political Department) to witness the event. This left a strong impression on both. The immigrants were transferred to three deportation ships which sailed back to their port of departure. On July 29 the ships anchored in Port-de-Bouc in the south of France. The British tried to force the passengers to disembark but they refused. When the French Government refused to force the immigrants to disembark, the three deportation ships remained in port for three weeks. During this period, cultural and social activities were held on the ships (including printing a newspaper), assisted by “Haganah” representatives in France and emissaries from Eretz Israel who infiltrated the ships. The events in France received extensive media coverage, and led to protests in the Jewish world. The immigrants organized protests including a one day hunger strike. On August 22nd the deportation ships sailed to Hamburg. When they reached the port, the immigrants were forced to disembark, with some 200 journalists from all over the world witnessing the events. The illegal immigrants were then sent to two camps in the north of Germany, in the British zone. In two of the deportation ships, “Ocean Vigor” and “Runnymede Park”, the immigrants resisted disembarkation, but “Empire Rival” passengers disembarked quickly with no resistance. This aroused suspicions on the part of the British who then discovered a charge of explosives on the ship hidden by Haganah members; the explosives did not cause any damages. When weather conditions changed, the Jews were transferred to two winter camps in the area of Emden. After a year in detention camps in Germany, most of the ship’s passengers arrived in Eretz Israel, some with forged documents (Aliya Daled). In September 1948 the last of the “Exodus” illegal immigrants arrived in Israel. The “Exodus” affair was covered by the media all over the world and the photos of holocaust survivors deported behind barbed wire fences caused a severe shock. It seems that the media coverage led the British government to the conclusion that it cannot solve the problem of the Jewish refugees and to the resolution to allow the United Nations do so. The UNSCOP committee that witnessed the belligerent and forceful disembarkation of immigrants in the port of Haifa, led to a change in the course of the militant policy led by British Foreign Minister, Ernst Bevin. In 1958, the American-Jewish author Leon Uris published the book “Exodus” about the illegal immigration and the establishment of the State of Israel, and in 1960 the film “Exodus” (Director: Otto Preminger), based on the book, was released. The film starring Paul Newman, was filmed in Israel and was a commercial success, serving as an “ambassador” of Israel around the world.