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Flag of Israel
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flag of Israel

Written by
Whitney Smith
Former Director, Flag Research Center, Winchester, Massachusetts. Author of Flags and Arms Across the World and others.
Whitney Smith
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History
Flag of Israel
Flag of IsraelNational flag consisting of a white field bearing two horizontal blue stripes and a central Shield of David (Hebrew: “Magen David”), which is also popularly known as the Star of David. The flag's width-to-length ratio is 8 to 11.

The early development of the flag of Israel was part of the emergence of Zionism in the late 19th century, and flag compositions from this time period used emblems and colors that held importance among the Jewish community. The design of a white flag with narrow blue stripes near the edges is based on the traditional áč­allit, the Jewish prayer shawl. The Star of David, also called Magen David (Hebrew: “Shield of David”), is a symbol that by the 19th century had been widely adopted by European Jews as an emblem of their community and religion. Thus, flags of a similar nature with these components may have emerged independent of each other. For example, there are accounts indicating that a white flag with blue stripes near the edges and the Shield of David in the center, designed by Israel Belkind and Fanny Meirovitch (nĂ©e Abramovitch), was raised in 1885 at the Jewish settlement of Rishon LeZion in Palestine. In the United States, Jacob Askowith and his son Charles designed their “flag of Judah,” which was displayed in 1891 at the hall of the B’nai Zion Educational Society in Boston, Massachusetts; that flag was white with narrow blue stripes near the edges and bore in the center the Shield of David, which contained the word Maccabee in blue letters. David Wolffsohn also presented a similar design in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Variations were used by the Zionist movement and, during World War II (1939–45), by the British army’s Jewish Brigade Group.

The Zionist flag was displayed in Palestine and was raised when Israel proclaimed its independence on May 14, 1948. In the following months, different designs were considered for the national flag of the new state of Israel, but on October 28 of that year, the country’s Provisional Council of State approved a law that recognized the Zionist banner as the official national flag; it came into effect on November 12. The flags for use on ships contained the same colors and Shield of David, but distinctive backgrounds were designed to make them better recognizable at sea.

The exact color shade for the flag is not specified by Israeli law, nor is it defined by the Standards Institute of Israel. A dark shade of blue is described, however, in a notice (February 18, 1950) of the Israel Office of Information. Lighter shades of blue were used in earlier flags and are still used by some Israeli organizations, but it is said that lighter colors would fade easily in the brilliant sun of Israel.

Whitney Smith The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica