In October 2023, an image of a directory page circulated on social media showing a blue and white flag with a Star of David labeled “Palestine.” The authors of many posts claim that this was the official flag of Palestine before World War II. We decided to check if this is true.
Against the backdrop of Israel’s war with the Palestinian group Hamas, a table from the late 1930s with flags of countries around the world began to circulate on social networks, among which there is an allegedly pre-war flag of Palestine with a six-pointed star. In particular, this illustration was published by Telegram channels “Lost past"(101,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) "Variance of Karginism | Israel war"(56,000), "Kuchera" (30,000) and "People for Israel | War"(25,000). The image was also actively shared by users social networks X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
During World War I, Palestine and other Ottoman territories in the Middle East came under de facto control of the British army. In 1922 Great Britain received a mandate from the League of Nations for the administration of Palestine, including in order to fulfill Balfour Declaration - the British government's commitment to ensure "the creation of a national home for the Jewish people."
Mandatory Palestine existed until 1948, when the State of Israel was created. All this time, the only official symbol of the territory was the British flag.
Another flag that has been flown on official occasions since 1932 is the standard of the Palestine High Commissioner: its seal over the Union Jack.
Finally, stern flags were raised on British ships in Mandatory Palestine - red And blue: the first - on merchant ships, the second - on customs and postal ships.
No other flags were allowed. In 1925 the newspaper Filastin, which represented the interests of Palestinian Arabs, published an article complaining about the violation of these rules by Jews. The occasion was a football match held in Jerusalem on January 12, 1925, in which the Hakoah team from Vienna participated. The players of the Austrian club took to the field under a flag that the Arab newspaper called Zionist - a blue and white banner with a Star of David.
According to the article, the governor of Jerusalem and Jaffa responded to the complaint: “This is the club flag of the Hakoah team, whose colors coincide with the Zionist flag. Obviously, the Hakoah Club flag is not the national flag.” However, the publication ends with a call for authorities in the Mandatory Territory to either allow all flags, both Jewish and Arab, or, as required by law, only allow the display of the Union Jack.
Where did the flag with the Star of David come from in the table that is being circulated on social networks? This is really a page from a French illustrated dictionary Larousse 1939.
The blue and white flag of Palestine with the Star of David appeared in this dictionary in 1932 and did not change until the 1941 edition. The presented tables are distinguished by many inaccuracies: for example, in the 1936 edition it is indicated that the flag of Germany is imperial black, white and red (and not red with a swastika in a white circle), and on the flag of the USSR there are the letters of the RSFSR (and not the hammer and sickle, approved in 1924).
In the 1920s and 1930s, blue and white, combined with a gold star, became the main symbols of the Zionist movement. In 1934 the magazine National Geographic published a photo of the ship Emanuel, whose crew raised a very similar flag. The crew of this merchant ship consisted of Jews, the Emanuel sailed between Europe and Palestine.
But even then the British Admiralty released a special order stating that such a flag, which is not related to any of the existing states, cannot be officially flown at sea.
Before the establishment of the State of Israel there was many options flags of the Zionist movement, but all known evidence records either white panels with thin blue stripes, or flags of two horizontal stripes. The Larousse flag is the only one with vertical stripes.
Thus, two main conclusions can be drawn. First, the Star of David flag was never official in Mandatory Palestine until the declaration of the Jewish state in 1948. Secondly, the flag from the pre-war editions of the Larousse dictionary does not correspond to any of the known copies and, most likely, only reflects the most general idea of the compilers of the table about what the symbolism of Jewish Palestine might look like.
Cover photo: social networks
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