![[Municipality of Nes Ziona (Israel)]](../images/i/il-nszna.gif)
image by Dov Gutterman | 2:3
Emblem adopted 13th April 1972
Last modified: 2015-06-29 by andrew weeks
Keywords: nes ziona | nes ziyyona | iriyat nes ziyyona | coat of arms (flag) | coat of arms (stars: 7) | coat of arms (stars: yellow) | star: 6 points (blue outlined) | text: hebrew (white) |
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image by Dov Gutterman | 2:3 Emblem adopted 13th April 1972 |
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Nes Ziyyona is situated in the shore plain, south of Rishon LeZiyyon and north of Rehovot. It is named after a phrase in
Jeremiah 4,6 and the event described below.
Est. 1883 and has 26,000 inh. Municipality since 1992
It has no official flag and in case of need uses its emblem on a
monochrome background, on a desk flag it is white. From the municipal
website (my translation):
The Emblem:
The flag symbolizes and commemorates the 1891 event, when after 2000 years in the diaspora, a national flag was hoisted. A flag that was confirmed by the Zionist Congress as the national flag of the Settlments and later, after the declaration of the state, became the national flag of the State of Israel. Nes Ziona sees itself as the first place to fly the flag which was later accepted as national flag. [This is probably an urban legend, read below.]
The three leaves symbolize the agriculture fundamental and the green character of the place.
The central leaf represent the basic economic branch of Nes Ziona, the citrus.
The bee represents the personal business and life in developed and organized society.
The cogwheel and the hammer represent the industrial development.
The seven stars represent Dr. Herzl's principles in his book The Jewish State about labour and welfare in the spirit of social development, seven hours daily work which will be charged in the national flag as seven stars.
Sources: e-mail from Ms. Rachel Zait, 27 August 2001;
desk flag; municipal
website. The municipal emblem was published in the official
gazette (Rashumot), YP 633, 13 November 1958 (as the
emblem for the then Local Council Nes Ziyyona).
History of Nes Ziyyona in English at the municipal
site.
Dov Gutterman, 6 September 2001
The flags in the town are all orange.
Source: author's own observation, 29 September 2001.
Dov Gutterman, 11 October 2001
![[Municipality of Nes Ziona, alleged historical flag (Israel)]](../images/i/il-nszn!.gif)
image by Željko Heimer and Dov Gutterman
Nes Zioyyna municipal
website shows a photo of an Israeli flag with the inscription
Nes-Zioyyna (meaning Flag to Zion). It is not
the municipal flag but the reconstruction of a
historical (?) flag. According to historical sources, on the day
of the Brith of the first newborn of the settlement on 1
January 1891, suddenly a local youngster, Michael Halperin (a
known legendary figure later on) arrived, riding his horse and
waving a blue-white flag with the inscription NES ZIYYONA. A very
brave gesture in an era when no flag was permitted to be hoisted
by the Ottoman authorities. This
brought the settlers to change the name from its former names
(Rose Valley, Reuven Estate and Tel-Aviv Estate) to Nes Ziyyona.
As a matter of fact, no source that I am familiar with describes
what the flag looked like and it seems it was not like the Zionist (later Israel)
flag, probably designed years after. Thus its description as the
current flag with the inscription, as it appears in the website
is some kind of urban legend. Nevertheless, Nes Ziyyona claims
the right as the first place where the Zionist flag appeared in
public.
Dov Gutterman, 29 August 2001
We've just gotten a letter from Israel that bears a stamp
commemerating Nes Ziyyona. It has an antique looking photo of the
event mentioned, along with a color depiction of the flag
pictured there. The photo seems to match the image, but the color
version shows both the star (thinly outlined in blue) and legend
in gold.
A block on the bottom of the stamp shows the modern flag of
Israel, along with the Biblical verse the name comes from, in
Hebrew: "Se'u- nes tziyyona, heizu, al-ta'amodu..."
(Jeremiah 4:6, roughly translated, "Lift a flag to Zion,
flee, do not stand...") "Nes Ziyyona" therefore
means "A flag toward Zion."
Nathan Lamm, 27 January 2004
See also: Israel - Historical Flags on Stamps
