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Last modified: 2023-10-28 by martin karner
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Israeli municipalities have only a statutory coat-of-arms, and
their flags usually are the coat-of-arms on a background which is
chosen by the mayor, city council or a city official, and can be
changed at their will. Some cities use the Israeli
flag as background, changing the Magen David with
the coat-of-arms (for example the flag of Jerusalem).
The absence of any legal status of city flags, and the mayors'
wishes to make their cities more colourful during holidays, is
bringing the result that in some cities you can see the local
coat-of-arms printed on different backgrounds.
Dov Gutterman, 7 September 1998
Israel is administratively divided into six
districts. However, those districts have no form of
government and have no flags or emblems. So the subdivisions of
Israel are municipalities of which there are more than 200.
Municipal flags are basically logo-on-bedsheets (LOBs) and some
cities use more than one background colour. These flags are not
official, however some municipalities have used the same
background for ages so those could be considered as
semi-official.
Dov Gutterman, 15 April and 15 May 1999
There are three types of Israeli subnational divisions. The combined name for all three types of subdivisions is Local Authorities and they number 258 in all. The three types are:
There are no specifications of these flags, and flags can
differ from one batch to other. Therefore, it is more than
probable to find different sizes of emblems, inscriptions or
colors. (...) My guess is that the municipality orders flags
without specification apart of colour and the rest relies on the
manufacturer ...
Dov Gutterman, 16 and 21 August 2001
Israeli basketball teams usually
hoist their municipal flags at their courts. Some of them are
vertical variants of the municipal flags. I had a chance to see
two of them this week in TV. One of Haifa and one of Local
Council Giv'at Shmu'el (which was reported as light green over
greyish green, and looks to me as white over regular green). Both
were 5:2 with the emblem rotated 90 degrees.
Dov Gutterman, 10 November 2001
This is my theory: The Israeli municipal "heraldry"
developed in mainly 1950's and was naturally influenced by the
art and graphical design of the period. That is characterized by
clear and simple monocoloured logos reminiscent partially in
classical heraldry (mainly only by using shield shapes) and even
more in "socialist" design. The coats of arms are
therefore
designed so to provide all the message shown in bicolour
representation (black-white, if you like) or better yet as
carving or relief.
[The designing is surely influenced by the need to use it on
official papers etc. ... Most of the "old" emblems are
really in shape of shields, but even in the first official
publications in 1958, one can find more "modern"
designs.]
I suppose that the 1965 stamp issue of Israeli post popularized
well this kind of emblems, and that many of latter designed
emblems are heavily influenced by it – after all these were
definitive regular issues in daily postage use for a decade or
so, I think.
[There were two series of emblems stamps (very popular in the
period). However, when those were issued, many of the emblems
used today were already published. I can't see a change in the
flow of emblems publications after this issue.]
Anyway, once you have an emblem that could be printed in any
colour and yet be clearly (or less clearly, depending on the
design) identified, it seems that the towns started using, first
exclusivly for ornamental purposes, the emblem printed on a
monocoloured sheet as flags to be hoisted along the main streets,
or along the beach or whatever. As there was no particular colour
preference, it was soon realized that a better effect could be
made if every flag in the display is coloured differently.
Similar practice is used by some companies that also use
monocoloured logo ...
[The use of municipal flags was very limited until mid 1980'. I
can't remember seeing too much of the used before that. My theory
is that the Amendment to the Flag and Emblem Law in 1986, which
made the hoisting of national flag at the city hall as
obligatory, gave the push for using municipal flags too.]
Anyway, apparently to understand the Israeli vexillology
correctly, one must comprehend that the colours are not always an
essential element of the flag design here, just as e.g. flag ratio
is not essential element of design in many other parts of the
world (i.e. even when it is prescribed often it is ignored and
flags are used as suitable). Non-determined colours are obviously
a peculiarity of Israeli vexillology.
Željko Heimer [remarks by Dov Gutterman],
21 July 2003
I was asked by Nathan Lamm: Is there a reason for the use of
yellow/green? It seems widespread-is it?
The use of yellow background with green emblem is quite spread
from two reasons:
1) Most of them can be found in the south part of Israel (The
Negev) where those probably symbolize an oasis in the desert. In
other regions is less frequent and in regional councils (rural
areas) probably represent the sun and agriculture.
2) In urban areas it is very rarely used as single variant and
when used it is to make the place more colourful among other
background used.
Dov Gutterman, 21 July 2003
Official names are transliterations of the Hebrew or Arabic
name made by the Hebrew Language Academy. However, those are not
always used also by the local authorities and, therefore, one can
find various transliterations to one name. State road signs
always use the official transliterations but it is not rare to
see a municipal road sign next to it with different
transliteration. In rare cases, even when the name in Hebrew is
pronounced differently, the official transliteration keep the
worldwide known name (i.e Tiberias and not Tverya, Haifa and not
Kheifa, Acre and not Akko etc.).
The difference between Kefar and Kafar is caused by the language
that apply (Hebrew or Arabic). In any case both mean
"village".
Dov Gutterman, 21 April 2005
Ralph Phillips sent me two pages of a book called Regional Councils in Israel, which contain photos of desk flags of all – or at least almost all – of Israel Regional Councils. There are no official flags for any of these regional councils and the desk flags are usually logo-on-bedsheet containing the emblem of the regional council, usually on a white background. For example, this scan shows the flag of the Regional Council of Shaar HaNegev (Negev's Gate) which situated in the northern part of the Negev desert.
Dov Gutterman, 3 April 2000
I have carried out a research about the origin and the legislation of Israel municipal flags, covering all legislation and proclamations concerned. There is one final conclusion to this research – there is not even one official municipal flag in Israel!
Until 1958 there was no legal status to the emblems of local authorities in Israel. There was some protection against their misuse according to general legislation (copyright rules, criminal and civil laws preventing misleading etc.) but those emblems were not protected per se against misuse. In 1958, the Knesset [parliament] enacted The Local Authorities (Emblems) Act, 5718-1958 (adopted 5 August 1958), which included the following provisions (as translated by me):
2 (a) Local authority is permitted, by majority vote of its members, to determine an emblem for itself.
(b) Local authority which decided to determine an emblem for itself, shall get the approval of the Minister of interior, and the approved emblem shall be published in the Rashumot [official gazette], and in doing so the emblem shall become the emblem of this local authority.
Altogether 173 proclamations were done according to this act until 1974. Ten of them were corrections or replacements to previously published emblems (usually right after the authority was upgraded from Local Council to Municipality). Some of them are of long forgotten and now dissolved local authorities.
This Act was replaced by the Symbols Protection Act of 1974 which had two major elements added. It now applied not only to local authorities but also to the symbols of government and governmental organizations, and it also applied to flags. Guess how many flags were protected by this law since 1974 until nowadays – not even one! From the enactment and until this very day there were 66 proclamations. 62 by municipalities, 3 by the government, 1 by a governmental organization – all of them about emblems, none about flags.
The municipal emblems which appear on the (unofficial) flags are published in the official gazette (Rashumot), in a part called Yalkut Ha'Pirsumim (usually abbreviated as YP) where such proclamations are published.
Dov Gutterman, 4 September 2001
Here are some words that are used in many Israeli local authorities and other settlements. All are Hebrew except where indicated:
Dov Gutterman, 19 October 2001
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