On 28 October 1948, the Israeli Provisional Council of State—which served as the temporary legislature of Israel from between the declaration of independence until the election of the first Knesset in January 1949—voted unanimously to approve the adoption of the Israeli flag. As described in the Proclamation of the Flag of the State of Israel, the flag featured a white background with two horizontal blue stripes and the Star of David in its center.
The Council debated whether to use the World Zionist Congress flag or create a new one. Some argued that creating a new flag would cause confusion internationally; others maintained that if the flags were the same, Jews in the Diaspora would be accused of dual loyalty.
Leading the party advocating for a new flag was Minister of Foreign Affairs and future Prime Minister Moshe Sharett who said that a new flag was essential in order to “avoid complications for Jewish communities” and allegations that Jews in the Diaspora were “flying the flag of a state of which they are not citizens." Therefore, in June 1948, the Israeli Provisional Council of State announced a public competition for flag designs. More than one hundred and fifty people participated in the two-week competition, submitting 450 proposals.
While the government originally selected a design submitted by Otto Wassisch consisting of two blue stripes, with a white stripe adorned with seven stars of David in whitish gold between them, the Provisional Council of State rejected it and appointed a committee of its own to design the state’s flag and emblem. During a Provisional Council of State meeting on 14 October 1948, two proposals were considered: the first, an emblem with a Menorah surrounded by seven stars, along with the inscription Shalom al Yisrael [Peace on Israel] and the second, a Menorah encircled with a lulav, an etrog, and a shofar. Both were met with fierce opposition.
Sharett sent cables to several Jewish leaders in the Diaspora seeking their guidance on the topic, and their overwhelming preference was to have the Zionist flag become the Israeli governments flag. The committee announced its decision on 28 July 1948 to adopt the Zionist flag as the state flag before unanimously approving the decision on 28 October 1948.
The flag initially proposed at the First Zionist Congress by David Wolffsohn, a Lithuanian-Jewish businessman and prominent early Zionist and second president of the Zionist Organization (ZO), who stood up and pulled out his tallit [prayer shawl], and asked: “Why do we have to search? Here is our national flag!” He waved his tallit with its two blue stripes on a white background to the assembled crowd.
Wolffsohn later explained: “We have a flag—and it is blue and white. The tallit with which we wrap ourselves when we pray: that is our symbol. Let us take this tallit 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.”
