Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz stated that since the sweeping victory won by Hamas in last Wednesday's parliamentary elections the hardline terror group has acted "responsibly." Shortly thereafter, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar made the following demand:

"Israel must remove the two blue stripes from its national flag. The stripes on the flag are symbols of occupation. They signify Israel's borders stretching from the River Euphrates to the River Nile."

What Mr. Zahar doesn't realize is the Israeli flag has its origins in the Torah and is designed after a tallit, the traditional Jewish prayer shawl. The Torah commanded the Israelites to dye threads of their tallit with an indigo dye which would represent the blue skies and remind them of God in Heaven.

The flag was designed by David Wolffsohn and was adopted by the first Zionist Congress in 1897, but the inspiration of the flag has its origins in the Torah.  Here is Mr. Wolffsohn's reasoning:

"What flag would we hang in the Congress Hall? Then an idea struck me. We have a flag — and it is blue and white. The talith (prayer ahawl) with which we wrap ouselves when we pray: that is our symbol. Let us take this Talith 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. That is how the national flag, that flew over Congress Hall, came into being." 

So the origins of the Israeli flag aren't as sinister as Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar would like the rest of the world to believe, but his demand to have the flag changed is indicative of his expectations from the Israeli state:  Israeli compliance to Hamas demands, no matter how reasonable or ridiculous.

Eric Schwappach  1 30 06