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Municipal Flags (Israel)

Last modified: 2005-02-19 by santiago dotor
Keywords: israel | subnational | district | mekhozot | municipality | iriyot | local council | mo'atzot mekomiyot | regional council | mo'atzot ezoriyot | law | qiryat | qrayot |
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Introduction

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:

  • Iriyat or Municipality: big urban settlement (sometimes mistakenly translated as city);
  • Mo'atza Mekomit or Local Council: small urban settlement; and
  • Mo'atza Ezorit or Regional Council: rural area with small settlements, mainly agricultural.
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 ma