Flag of Israel

Flag of Israel
Vexillological symbol :	?
Aspect ratio:	8:11
Officially accepted:	Officially hoisted on May 14, 1948 : November 12, 1948

The flag of Israel consists of a centrally arranged blue Star of David between two horizontal blue stripes on a white background.

The flag was designed by David Wolffsohn on the occasion of the Zionist World Congress in Basel in 1897 . It became the national flag after the establishment of Israel in 1948 .

Proportions

Flag of Israel at the Weizmann Institute

Flag of Israel

The height ratio of the stripes arranged one above the other is 3: 5: 16: 5: 3, the total height of the flag is therefore 32 height units. Since the flag is 44 height units long, it has an aspect ratio of 32:44 = 8:11.

symbolism

The design of the flag goes back to the Jewish tallit prayer shawl ; Blue and white are the colors of Jewish ritual clothing. Wolffsohn explained the design in 1897:

“At the behest of our leader Herzl, I came to Basle to make preparations for the Zionist Congress. Among many other problems that occupied me then was one which contained something of the essence of the Jewish problem. What flag would we hang in the Congress Hall? Then an idea struck me. We have a flag - and it is blue and white. The talith (prayer shawl) with which we wrap ourselves when we pray: that is our symbol. Let us take this Talith from its bag and unroll it before the eyes of Israel and the eyes of all nations. So I ordered a blue and white flag with the Shield of David painted upon it. That is how the national flag, that flew over Congress Hall, came into being. "

“At the behest of our leader Herzl, I came to Basel to make preparations for the Zionist Congress. Among the many problems that preoccupied me at the time was one that in a way contained the essence of the Jewish problem: what flag would hang in the congress hall? An idea ran through me: We have a flag - and it's blue and white. The tallit that we wrap around us when we pray: that is our symbol. Let us take this tallit out and unfold it before the eyes of Israel and all peoples! So I ordered a blue and white flag with the Star of David drawn on it. And this is how the national flag came into being, which waved over the congress hall. "

Misinterpretations

It is often wrongly assumed that the two blue ribbons symbolize two of the four walls of the Second Temple or the east / west border of the State of Israel ( Mediterranean Sea and Dead Sea / Jordan ). The also inaccurate claim that the blue ribbons symbolize the rivers Nile and Euphrates is sometimes made by the Arabs to claim that Israel is striving for great power (cf. Ex 23.31  EU  : “And I want to set your border from the Red Sea to the Philistine Sea and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will give you the inhabitants of the land into your hand, that you should cast them out before you ”).

history

The region of Palestine belonged to the Ottoman Empire until the First World War . After the occupation of Palestine by British troops in 1917, the Union Jack became the official flag of the League of Nations Mandate Area of Palestine (1922–1948), as Great Britain was the Mandate power. From 1926 there was also a Blue Ensign with a white disc that said Palestine customs . This was used by the customs authorities. From 1927 there was also a Red Ensign for ships that were registered in the mandate area. Like the Blue Ensign, this one also had a white disc, in which only Palestine was written. In 1929 the word customs was removed from the Blue Ensign. These flags remained in use until the League of Nations mandate ended in 1948.

When Israel was founded on May 14, 1948, its government chose the flag of the Zionist Congress in 1897. However, since the Palestine War took place parallel to the Israeli Declaration of Independence , several variations were in use because of the resulting confusion. The " ink flag " made famous by an iconic photo was one of the most famous of them. She was hoisted in Eilat at the end of the Palestine War in 1949 .

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  Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1844–1923), in Palestine until 1917

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  Flag of the League of Nations Mandate Area of ​​Palestine (1927–1948)

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  ^? Graphic representation of the ink flag (1948–1949)

Flags of Israeli cities

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  Flag of Abu Ghosh

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  Flag of Ashdod

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  Flag of Ashkelon

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  Flag of Bat Jam

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  Flag of Bnei Berak

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  Flag of Cholon

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  Flag of Cholon (variant)

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  Flag of Giv'atajim

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  Flag of Haifa

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  Flag of Herzliya

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  Flag of Jerusalem

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  Flag of Karmi'el

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  Flag of Netanya

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  Flag of Or Jude

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  Flag of Ramat Gan

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  Flag of Ramat Hasharon

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  Flag of Rishon LeZion

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  Flag of Tel Aviv-Jaffa

Flags of the Zahal

The Israel Defense Forces use the following flags. The naval war flag of Israel has a dark blue basic color in contrast to the national flag. She used the Star of David in a white triangle. The flag of the Air Force is light blue with dark blue and white stripes and a filled in dark blue Magen David.

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  2: 3 flag of the Israel Defense Minister

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  2: 3 Flag of the Israel Defense Minister at sea

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  Flag of the Israel Defense Forces

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  2: 3 ^? Naval war flag

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  2: 3 flag of the Israeli Navy

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  2: 3 flag of the air force

More flags

Trade flag

The trade flag , like the sea war flag of Israel, has a dark blue basic color in contrast to the national flag. She uses the Star of David in a white oval. The presidential standard, however, used the coat of arms of Israel in a square shape with a white (country) or yellow border (lake).

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  2: 3 ^? Trade flag

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  2: 3 Standard of the President

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  2: 3 Standard of the President at Sea

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  2: 3 flag of the Israeli Prime Minister

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  2: 3 flag of the Israeli Prime Minister at sea

Theodor Herzl's proposed flag

Theodor Herzl's proposed flag

Theodor Herzl , the founder of political Zionism , proposed in his book Der Judenstaat 1896 a white flag with six gold stars that form a star of David. A seventh star stands above it.

We don't have a flag. We need one. If you want to lead many people, you have to raise a symbol above their heads. I imagine a white flag with seven big stars. The white field means the new, pure life; the stars are the seven golden hours of our working day. Because under the sign of work the Jews go to the new land.

The Israeli container company ZIM took this flag as a model for its flag.

See also

• Coat of arms of Israel

Web links

Commons : Flags of Israel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Israeli Flag. The Jewish Virtual Library - A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, accessed December 8, 2012 . 
2. ↑ Flags of the World - Theodor Herzl 1896 (Zionist Flags, Israel)
3. ↑ ZIM: Name and flag  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.