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Israel

Medinat Yisra'el

by Mark Sensen 1997-10-03

Proportions
History of the present flag
Other proposals for the national flag

See also:

Proportions

Proportions: 14:30:85:30:14

Zeljko Heimer

History of the present flag

I have an example of a "cigar box felt" of the 1900's to 1910's era that shows the current Israeli flag as the "Zionist" flag. Some versions show it with Hebrew characters within the "Shield of David". Therefore this flag predated the modern State of Israel.

[geo17] shows a b/w photo of a "Zionist" waving a flag horizontally divided light over dark (the caption indeed says it is white over blue) with the "Shield of David" in the center, counterchanged (that is, it is dark on the light half of the flag and light on the dark half.)

Nick Artimovich, 1996-APR-01

De facto, the Israeli flag is used by Jews all over the world, as a flag to symbolize them. This flag is considered by many Jews and others also, as the Jewish flag, and there are few who know the difference. However, there are many events when a flag is needed and then the Israeli flag is, as a rule, displayed. An example could be (almost) any Holocaust commemoration where one can see the Israeli flag.

Zeljko Heimer, 1996-APR-03

Other proposals for a national flag

Zeljko Heimer asked "about a 'first' flag of Israel, supposedly made by Hetzl, consisting of a white field and eight golden stars (or maybe Magen-Davids). The white was for peace, and the eight stars should represent the eight-hours working day."

I think I may have found an answer to your question Zeljko. The process of adopting an Israeli national emblem is discussed in detail in an article by Don Handelman and Lea Shamgar-Handelman: "Shaping Time: The Choice of the National Emblem of Israel", in Emiko Ohnuki-Tierny (ed): Culture Through Time: Anthropological Approaches, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990, pp. 193-226. The main attention in this article is on the emblem of Israel, but there is some information on the adoption of the flag as well:

In 1896 Theodor Herzl published a book called Der Judenstaat (in English: The Jewish State). He proposed a flag for the state. This was to be seven golden stars on a white field. Handelman and Lea Shamgar-Handelman quoted this explanation from a 1970 edition of Herzl's book (p. 101): "The white field signifies our new, pure life; the stars are the seven golden hours of our working day."

Jan Oskar Engene

When the state of Israel was declared 14 May 1948, the question of an emblem and flag came up. There was a committee to consider the question, and a public competition was announced on 10 June 1948. People were encouraged to include the menorah and the seven golden stars in their designs, though this was not strictly a requirement. Though the time to submit designs was short (originally the deadline was 14 June, it was extended to 25 June), 164 people participated in the competition, submitting a total of 450 designs.

The cabinet preferred a flag design of seven six-pointed golden stars on a white field, with blue stripes above and below. The reason was that some politicians, notably the minister of foreign affairs, felt a need to have a flag for the new state that was different from the flag of the Zionist Movement. This, as we know, was rejected. According to Handelman and Shamgar-Handelman, the only difference between the flag of the state of Israel and the flag of the Zionist Movement, was that the shade of blue was changed from light to dark blue in the flag of the state of Israel.

Jan Oskar Engene, 24-JUN-1996