This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Israel – Miscellaneous Flags

Last modified: 2023-03-18 by martin karner
Keywords: israel | menorah | banknote | anniversary |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



See also:


Flag with Coat-of-Arms

[Unidentified Flag with Coat-of-Arms (Israel)] image by Dov Gutterman and Željko Heimer

One of the unique discoveries of my 18 September 2001 [municipalities flags] tour was a flag that was hoisted in Zefat city hall. Beside the municipal flag and the national flag, there was a white flag charged with the national emblem in reversed colours. I never saw such a flag before anywhere. Here is a photograph.
Dov Gutterman
, 28 September 2001


Flags on an Israeli banknote

I saw the new Israeli banknote of 20 New Sheqalim showing the Israeli flag, but it also shows some (at least two) other flags in the background. This might be flags from the United Nations building in New York, or something of the sort. One seems to be an Argentine flag, but the image is too bad to identify anything for certain.
Željko Heimer
, 13 May 1999

Could it be a symbol of Israel being recognized among the independent nations of the world? It would then make perfect sense to use common colourless patterns for the flags in the back, so they would just mean realistic, yet unidentifiable, "other nations". Notice that none of the flags except the Israeli one can be immediately identified for sure. Obviously, this is on purpose.
Pierre Gay
, 13 May 1999

The new 20 INS note is dedicated (as was the old one) to Moshe Sharet, the first Foreign Minister and the second Prime Minister of Israel. The note commemorates the event that took place on May 11th 1949 when Israel was accepted as UN member and Mr. Sharet was honoured by raising the Israeli flag. Since the flag order at the UN follows the alphabetical order, in the original picture you can see the flags of Iceland and India. I think that in designing the new bill, the designers preferred not to show actual flags and therefore the bill includes some symbolic, imaginary flags.
Dov Gutterman
, 13 May 1999


Flags in the Jewish Encyclopedia

I have access to some parts of the Jewish Encyclopedia and other Israeli documentation and there is several vex information:

  • In the word Molcho, Salomon, show the image of the banner that carried Salomon Molcho on his mission to Emperor Charles V at Regensburg in 1532 (Prague, State Jewish Museum).
  • In the word Flag is a description of the tribes flags and a banner of the Prague Jewish Community presented by its rabbi Mordecai Meisel 1592 (same Museum).
  • In the burial of Herzl 1949, the coffin was covered by a white fabric with blue (?) Hebrew inscription, and also with a unknown flag, probably blue with a circle of seven six pointed (white or golden) stars.
  • More photos: a Jewish sailor raising the flag on a Jewish ship: the flag is probably white with two opposed triangles (blue) that form the David star, and within a sign similar to the letter 'O'.
  • Also a drawing of a banner of Jewish Battalions in Palestine: like the current national flag but stylized star and black inscriptions: near hoist Jewish Battalions and below in Palestine; at fly I assume that the same inscription but with Hebrew characters.
  • Other flag show in the word Ha-shomer Ha-za'ir: The Ha-Shomer white standard with small Union Flag in the upper fly part, and Hebrew inscription (By blood and fire Judea fell; by blood and fire Judea shall rise).
  • At end, in photo of the official opening of Israel's 25th anniversary celebrations by President Shazar, show the flags of 12 tribes (only 10 visible in the b/w photo).

Jaume Ollé, 31 May 1998


Ethiopian Jews

Is it true that the Falacha community use a blue flag with inscriptions or emblem?
Jaume Ollé
, 22 February 1999

I guess you mean the Ethiopian Jews who insist that they be not called Falaches, since the Falaches (really Falach-Mura) are those who converted to Christianity and are no longer part of the Ethiopian Jews community. I don't know about any flag of them. There is no official or known flag of the community.
Dov Gutterman
, 27 February 1999


The Light-Flag

A blogger I know posts pictures of an Israeli flag made of lights (for Tuesday's Memorial Day and Wednesday's Independence Day celebrations) in Tel Aviv at ajhistory.blogspot.com [pictures not retrievable].
Nathan Lamm, 2 May 2006

For those who are not familiar with it, we celebrate it according to the Hebrew calendar, so even thou it was on 14 May 1948, we celebrate it on He BeIyar (5th day of the eighth month).
The building in the photo is the city hall of Tel-Aviv and I can assure you that in reality the lights are blue and white ... Better photo at maxvps019.maximumasp.com [picture not retrievable – we would be happy for sending us one].
Few words about the flag. This flag is claimed to be the biggest light-flag in the world. It is situated on the southern wall of Tel Aviv city hall facing Rabin Square and is made of 580,000 bulbs. It is called Lights of Hope' Flag, and the bulbs was lightened gradually in the past month. Each bulb represent a donation of 18 NIS (~4 US$) for ELEM (organization for youth in danger). The number 18 (in Hebrew hai, it also means to live) is symbolic.
Dov Gutterman, 3 May 2006


70th Anniversary of Israel flag (Poland)

[70th anniversary flag] image located by William Garrison

A white-field flag with the Israeli flag in the center, surrounded by two concentric rings with the blue lettering "ISRAEL | 70 YEARS", a menorah and the star of David. Photo of a gathering in Poland, probably in 2018 (Source: notesfrompoland.com, original picture).
located by William Garrison, 21 February 2023


Israel-Ulster Unionist flag (Northern Ireland)

[Ulster-Israel flag] image located by William Garrison

The "Israel-Ulster" flag: being the national flag of Israel with "Unionist" Northern Ireland imagery on it. Pro-Ireland (anti-UK), re-unification "Nationalist" Northern Irelanders frequently wave Palestinian flags at football/soccer matches. Some claim that the pro-UK "Unionist" or "Loyalist" community in Northern Ireland hold a lot support for Israel, if for no other reason than the "Nationalists" seem to favor Palestine. This pro-Israel flag is being sold in a Northern Ireland flag shop as the "Israel-Ulster" flag. Some may find the Christian cross atop the British crown upon this Israeli flag as being a little unusual/controversial (others may critique that the artwork is rather gaudy overall anyway).
William Garrison, 7 March 2023

This video from the Israeli news channel i24 gives a bit context to that matter: Northern Irish Catholics Burn Israeli Flags.
Martin Karner, 8 March 2023


"B B" Netanyahu promotional flag (or banner?)

[B B Netanyahu] image located by William Garrison

Flag/banner depicting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin ("Bibi") Netanyahu, showed on a supporters' rally in Jerusalem on 20 April 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)
Hebraic inscriptions: "Hero of Israel" / "Together with you the whole way" (source, picture)
located by William Garrison, 9 March 2023

Marchers wave a flag displaying Benjamin Netanyahu's image in Jerusalem, Israel on April 20, 2022. "King of Israel" in English. Atop the picture of Netanyahu are the English letters: "B B" which obviously is a play on his nickname "Bibi" – at least when pronounced in English. This looks more like a flag than a banner, but I'm not too sure.
William Garrison, 9 March 2023

I think it was 2001 at the ICV in York, England, that I sat in on a session for flagmakers. They were aghast at the concept of printing images on flags – a flag can't be a flag if it can't be sewn was the core message. One printer from France was demonstrating gradient fill across a flag from true blue to a strong green and the howls of protest from other flagmakers could be heard in London, I swear! Of course, printed flags were on the market long, long before 2001, but the practice was to ensure that a flag could only be a flag if you could conceive of it being sewn from pieces of fabric. 18th and 19th Century painted flags were carefully avoided in that discussion!
My point is that 22 years ago, this would have been an advertising banner. Today it might be produced by the thousands and paraded through the streets by supporters (or burned by opponents!) The boundary between flags and banners has blurred. I would call this one a promotional flag, serving the purpose to rally supporters, promote Netanyahu, and simply recognise the cause. Pete Loeser uses the term "vaporware" for ephemeral items, mostly electronic, but I think this sort of flag probably belongs in that area too. However, we have seen such flags for US presidential races from two centuries ago, so it probably deserves a mention on FOTW.
Rob Raeside, 9 March 2023