As a secular leftist anti-Zionist Jew, I am always anti all things nationalistic, and as a result loath what the star of David has come to represent in my mind and to many others. It was never THE central Jewish Symbol, until promoted by Zionist to adorn their flag. But for many it means a lot.

And symbols are powerful. Thinking about that last May, I put on my designer’s hat and explored ideas around an icon that rejects Zionism and isn’t visually defined by that or all the baggage, and instead works to be an affirmative table setting for inclusive community building outside of the garbage the ethno-Nationalists have contaminated our culture with and the walls of fear and hate they erected against our closest living ethnic relatives, Palestinians.

Later I saw and signed ‘A Global Jewish Manifesto for Collective Liberation’ from Global Jews for Palestine, which closely resonated with what I was going after here.

Re my flag/banner/crest here: The goal was to come up with something that was both not Nationalistic, AND not Religious while acknowledging the role spiritual practice plays in our culture.

To be an icon for a constructive path for a Zionist free Jewish culture, in solidarity with Palestinians as our closest cultural and genetic cousins.

The only overt nod to religious ideas is the Hebrew text for Tikkun olam, which for me was presented early on as a Jewish secular vision of the call to leave the world better than you found it, work for social justice, the environment and ecology, a better future and human rights. “It’s an old idea that’s grown beyond the fait into secular Jewish culture.

The pomegranate in the center means something to both Palestinians and Jews. The seeds of the pomegranate symbolize the 613 mitzvot (sacred obligations) attributed to the Torah, and it’s an icon for righteousness, knowledge, wisdom, and fertility.

And given they are the direct descendants of the ancient Hebrews, it should be no surprise for Palestinians the pomegranate is ALSO a symbol of fertility, abundance, heritage and traditions, prosperity, and the continuity of generations.

The fruit is associated with the land’s agricultural heritage, as are the olive branches here, representing peace, wisdom, vitality, and hope. And, for Palestinians those I read are a symbol of identity, heritage, and resilience. The both have some hint of importance to the religious but work as secular ideas we share.

The central form is a deconstructed take on the Star of David, which is a symbol of Jewish identity and culture that predates the modern state and it’s flag, but has become the central one of the colonial project. So I was looking to get away from the angles and heavy single line, and reimagine it dramatically. Pushing away from the authoritarian air Zionism has brought to it, while also being largely responsible for making it a popular central icon.

As I mentioned at the start It was not nearly as central before and rising to importance first in 17c European Jewish communities. I wanted that there as the key overt deconstructive element, but It was something I wanted to explicitly re present in a constructive form leaning into unity. Instead of interlocked WALLS, a Jewish fortress. Instead It’s become the flowing forms of waves, energy, and movement. Ideally towards progress and solidarity.

The white blue red black and green of course, is a use of ALL the past cultural nationalist movements both Jewish and Palestinian. But they have been made subordinate to the off white field of the flag.

The blue lines on the Israeli flag are references to the blue lines of tallit, here I intertwined double lines of one part of the star form with the green white and black of the Arab Independence movements, including the Palestinian flag. Because the idea is to show them in relationship and partnership as cultural themes, together to form the whole form of the deconstructed star of David.

I don’t want this to be a nationalist icon but, it is ment to promote peace and cohabitation in the land and in the world.

And again, BOTH cultures see the white of their flags as being about “purity” and “noble intent and actions”. Don’t love the ‘purity’ part of that but the rest is a note I was going for. And because the purity thing bugs me a bit, and I wanted it to pop less and have the third white lines of the sign waves of the star stand out more, I added a very slight ivory/cream/gold back fill instead of pure white for the background field.

It’s ment to be a Jewish cultural flag, but welcoming to and inclusive of Palestinian culture, a people who’s genetic heritage is a direct line back to the ancient Hebrews who remained on the land, only converting to other faiths over time. So both cultures are present while having the past icons of either not dominate and instead assemble to suport something new.

Please feel free to share and use freely in the sprite it was created in, as outlined here. It’s covered by CC BY-SA 4.0 – Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

#FreePalestine #endthegenocide #NotInMyName
~Max