A bill for an Israeli flag that really is Israeli -- meaning not made in China – passed a Cabinet-level committee Monday with backing from a wide spectrum of Knesset Members.
The proposed law would require that all Israeli flags that are purchased by government agencies be made in Israel. Most of the flags the past several years have been bought from Asian countries, most notably China and Turkey, which also straddles the European continent.
"Last Independence Day, tens of millions of Israeli flags were displayed at the cost of Israeli factories and workers,” said Labor Knesset Member Shelly Yechimovich. “Even worse, government offices and the Israeli Armed Forces wave the flag that is made in China. This is an intolerable situation. Manufacturing the flag outside of the borders of Israel damages the income of Israeli workers and depreciates the significance of the flag."
Other backers of the bill include Likud MK Ofir Akunis, Kadima MK Majalli Whbee, Labor Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, and Israel Is Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu) MK Alex Miller.
Shraga Brosh, head of the Israel Manufacturers' Association, said that the national flag “is one of the hallowed symbols of the country, a symbol to which I salute and fought for. People have paid their lives for it. An Israeli flag made outside the country contradicts those values. It is not justifiable morally.”
The bill must be passed on second reading, pass another committee vote and pass a final vote in the Knesset before becoming law.