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The flag of Israel

The flag of Israel
A white field with two horizontal blue stripes near the top and bottom edges, and a blue Star of David at the centre.
Ratio 8:11 · current design adopted 1948
Israel

Field and colours only. Not shown: two blue horizontal bands with a blue Star of David centred.

The design is a prayer shawl: two blue stripes on white, exactly as a tallit is woven, with the Star of David added at the centre. It was used by the Zionist movement from 1897 and adopted five months after the state was founded, on 28 October 1948. The blue shade was left unspecified for decades, so official flags ranged from pale sky blue to near-navy before a 2000s standard settled on a mid-blue. The 8:11 ratio is shared only with Norway.

What the colours mean

  • Blue #0038B8 Taken from the tekhelet dye of the tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl
  • White #FFFFFF The field of the tallit

Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.

The symbols on it

What What it stands for
Star of David The Magen David, a Jewish emblem widely used from the seventeenth century
Ratio
8:11
Current design adopted
1948
Colours
blue, white

Common questions

What does the flag of Israel look like?
A white field with two horizontal blue stripes near the top and bottom edges, and a blue Star of David at the centre.
What do the colours of the Israel flag mean?
Blue: taken from the tekhelet dye of the tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl. White: the field of the tallit.
When was the Israel flag adopted?
The current design dates from 1948, and its official ratio is 8:11.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked