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Israel Defense Forces

Tzvah Haganah LeYisrael, ZAHAL, IDF

Last modified: 2024-11-02 by martin karner
Keywords: israel | idf | zahal | israel defence forces | tzvah haganah l'yisrael | haganah | irgun | hexagon (yellow) | sword (yellow) | branch: olive (yellow) | scroll (yellow) | canton: israel | star: 6 points (blue outlined) |
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[Army Flag (Israel)] 8:11 image by Željko Heimer and Miles Li, 9 August 2008


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Description

This is the flag used by the army (together with the national flag). There is also a yellow device in the lower fly end, consisting of a six-pointed shape with a sword and an olive branch, and a ribbon with the text TZVAH HAGANAH L'YISRAEL that would be Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). The flag is 6:11 proportioned (unlike the national flag which is 8:11), and has yellow fringes around three edges. Here I came onto a question: are the lengths of yellow fringes included in this proportions, or not? A much more interesting question would be about fringes altogether. Are they part of the flag specification, and how obligatory etc.
Željko Heimer, 1 April 1996

Recently I was in the Army doing reserve service, and I looked in the Army Regulations for flag-related ones. I found the answer to the questions mentioned above. The size of the flag is 220 × 160 cm, the canton with the national flag is 110 × 80 cm. The fringes are 8 cm long and are not included in the 8:11 proportions. And I would say that they are obligatory if they are mentioned in the Regulations (as are fringes of some other flags). The pole is 350cm long and has the IDF badge on top, from the IDF parade. These measurements refer to the official IDF flag that was given to the army by the President of Israel during Independence Day parade in 1951.

The IDF also have an official national flag, taken from the IDF march in Tel Aviv, 1949. Each year a different corps or command safe-keeps these two flags, and the transfer is done as part of the ceremony that opens Independence Day. In Israel Independence Day is preceded by Memorial Day. This year Memorial Day was Sunday, May 11. According to Jewish law the day starts at sunset, so Independence Day started on Sunday at sunset. There is an official ceremony – one of the very few we have in Israel – which is held at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. This ceremony separates Memorial Day from Independence Day and it starts with hoisting the flag from half-mast to full-mast. One part is the transfer of the flags, this year from Central Command to the Navy. Besides the two official flags there are also flags (colours?) of the various corps, commands etc.

Nahum Shereshevsky, 31 May 1997

Is the Israeli Army flag routinely flown outdoors on its own? When used in military parades, etc., is it carried on its own or with the national flag? If it is used alone, I would call it [in vexillological terms] the war flag, i.e. a variant of the national flag for use by the armed forces, whereas the US Army Flag is merely an organizational flag.
Tom Gregg, 17 September 1998

Well, the IDF flag is not flown regularly. It is used mainly in ceremonies together with the national flag. You can call it also an organizational flag. Usually, in ceremonies the flag is with fringes but I did not see a word about fringes in the regulations. The regulations specify that the national flag will be flown at all army bases, and there is no obligation to fly any other flag. In many bases, you can see that they fly the branch of service flag or a banner with the branch of service colours (like black and green triangles that make a rectangle for the armoured units) but usually no IDF flag. Nahum Shereshevsky has got the full range of IDF flags.
Dov Gutterman, 18 September 1998

Army Regulation 33.0401 paragraph 1c2 clearly says that the flag has an 8 cm fringe. The colour of the fringe is not specified. Actually it should be former regulation 33.0401. I recently found out that a number of army regulations concerning flags were abolished and replaced by one regulation that specifies procedures. The descriptions of the flags were moved to Maintenance Corps Regulations. The reason given, as far as I remember, was that these are technical/production details.
Nahum Shereshevsky, 19 September 1998

Correct, the flag is 160 cm × 220 cm with 8 cm fringes on three sides.
Dov Gutterman, 19 September 1998

The above image of the IDF flag is wrong in several respects. Firstly, it has an 8:11 ratio including the fringe, which implies that the ratio is wrong. Secondly, the canton is not half (80/160) the length of the flag.
Santiago Dotor, 8 November 2002

While visiting a friend, I found out that his late father covered one of the walls in his study with photos from historical events of Israel. I was caught by a photo showing the IDF flag hoisted on the 1st IDF parade that was held in Tel Aviv on 27 July 1948. I couldn't find a photo on the net and got only partial photo from the second parade (4 May 1949) at Tel Aviv municipal website. (go to tel-aviv.millenium.org.il and click the sixth link a the bottom).
The flag was the national flag with the IDF emblem at the center.
Meanwhile I located  IDF GHQ order no 33.0401 from which I learned that the current flag of the IDF was presented  by the President (Hayyim Weitzman) to the IDF at the IDF parade held on Jerusalem on 4 Iyar 5711 (10 May 1951).
The description of IDF is as follows:
Art. 31: "Its length 220 cm. Its width 160 cm.  The background is "Tkhelt" (light blue/azure) and in its top left corner, near the hoist – the national flag in length of 110 cm and width of 80 cm. On the bottom right corner, near the drummer there is the IDF emblem in length of 70 cm and width of 68 cm.
At the ends of the flags there are fringes, 8 cm wide.
The flag will be attached to a poll 350 cm long with the IDF metallic emblem attached to its top side."
Dov Gutterman, 15 March 2009

Indoor Version

[Army Flag (Israel)] image located by William Garrison

This is the flag used by the army (together with the national flag). There is also a yellow device in the lower fly end, consisting of a six-pointed shape with a sword and an olive branch, and a ribbon with the text TZVAH HAGANAH L'YISRAEL that would be Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). The flag is 6:11 proportioned (unlike the national flag which is 8:11), and has yellow fringes ...
However, I offer here a slightly revised version of that flag, that when it is hung from a short ("office") flag-pole, the Defense logo has been slightly rotated so that when this "office" flag is displayed, the Defense logo appears "upright" – otherwise, the logo would be slightly askew towards the "fly" side if flown from an outdoor flag-pole (I've noticed this with other Israeli flags too, see e.g. Ministry of Health – Variant with rotated design,  Jerusalem (diagonal variant)).

Source: https://www.jns.org/gantz-iran-producing-1000-advanced
An IDF Central Command headquarters flag (right?); c. March 2022.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz gives a statement to the media at the IDF Central Command headquarters in Jerusalem, on March 30, 2022. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90.

William Garrison, 18 May 2022

Military Flags – Overview

GHQ order #33.0602 is dealing with IDF unit flags. The order deals with three types of unit flags:
1) Commands flags (sec. 7.4)
There is no descriptions of those flags. There are seven commands that have such flags: North, Central, South, Homefront and Field Forces Command as well the Air force and the navy. The three territorial commands' flags are quite similar to the IDF flag but with their emblems at lower fly and crimson background.
2) Service flags (sec. 7.6)
Flags of forces/services
Service flag is described as a flag in the service colors with the service emblem in its top fly side. There are also decoration flags without the emblem.
3) Unit flags
No description of those flags (usually they are the same as the command/service flag with the unit emblem).

Interesting that according to the orders, only battalions or equivalents will have flags and bigger units (Regiments, Divisions, wings etc.) will have only a metal made standard. However, all of them do have unit flags ...
Therefore, officially, only those units can have unit flags: Infantry, paratroops, communication, artillery, armour, engineers and NAHAL battalions. Air force squadrons, navy flotillas, military schools, pre-military boarding schools, training bases, medical battalions, logistics battalions, ordinance battalions, inelegance battalions, supply centers, logistic bases and equivalent units.
All unit flags must be approved by the IDF's Symbols and Flags Committee.

Dov Gutterman, 17 February 2005

The IDF is combined of "professional" Arms (Land, Air and Sea), Territorial Commands (North, Central, South and Homefront) and HQ wings. Each headed by an officer with rank of Major General. Arms and Commands have distinctive flags. The commands flags are crimson with national flag in canton. The "Land Arm" is quite a new feature, replacing the "Field Forces Command" and therefore it a quite new flag.
Dov Gutterman, 20 November 2005

IDF Flag (1949)

[IDF Flag] image located by William Garrison
(source)

Photo showing a group of Israeli soldiers with an IDF flag. The writing in Hewbrew letters means "Israel Defense Forces" (Tsva haHagana l'Israel).
This source specifies the photo's year of origin as 1949, as well as this one (in the image tag).
located by William Garrison, 8 April 2024

20th Anniversary Celebration Paper Flag

[Paper National Flag]
(obverse)

[Paper National Flag] images located by William Garrison
(reverse | source)

Israel paper flag on occasion of the 20th Independence Day (14 May 1968) (21x10 cm).
Inscription on obverse: "Yom ha'atzmaut" (Independence Day). IDF logo with inscription "tsva haganah leIsrael" (Israel Defense Forces). The IDF likewise celebrated its 20th anniversary that year.
located by William Garrison, 12 July 2024