![[Customs Flag (Israel)]](../images/i/il_custo.gif)
image by Željko Heimer
Last modified: 2024-01-06 by martin karner
Keywords: customs | excise | mekhes u'blo | text: hebrew (white) | mekhes | blo | law |
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image by Željko Heimer
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The customs flag can be seen for instance at Haifa Customs House, among all the
national flags hoisted on the building. According to the legislation there are two flags, a land
flag (the customs house flag) and a flag for
use at sea (the bow flag, i.e. a jack). Both flags are the
same but in different sizes.
Dov Gutterman, 26 August 2001
Q: I assume therefore that it is not used as an ensign, at the
stern. What do custom vessels fly as ensign: national
flag or civil ensign?
Santiago Dotor, 18 October 2002
A: Never saw one, but judging from other governmental vessels
(apart from police boats) there
is no flag at the stern and [the] national flag
[is flown] on the main mast.
Dov Gutterman, 18 October 2002
Following a government decision, the two main tax collection
organization of Israel (Income and Property Tax Wing and Customs
and VAT wing) were united to one body: Israel
Taxes Authority. This unification came into force on 1
September 2004.
The outcome of this step was the disappearing of the customs flag
which was replaced by the new flag of the Israel Taxes Authority.
Dov Gutterman, 16 November 2007
9:14 | 90 × 140 cm
image by Željko Heimer
Flag adopted 14 May 1948, confirmed 20th October 1965
The Customs flag is a 9:14 blue flag with the national flag in
the canton and the Customs badge in the lower fly. The Customs
badge consists of a circular white inscription Me'hes U'Blo,
meaning Customs and Excise, the two words delineated with a dot
on each side.
Source: Customs flag legislation.
If I have read correctly the specifications in the legislation,
the length of the flag in canton is not clearly stated, but it
seems that it was taken as granted that it is half the length (as
the scan from the legislation
shows). The prescribed sizes of the canton makes this flag
slightly different from the national flag: here the white stripes
along the edges are of the same width as the blue stripes.
I have a problem with the prescription in the legislation
that the width of the stripes forming the Magen David
should be 2 cm on the Customs flag (1,5 cm on the Customs
jack, making the problem even bigger). That would make the Magen
David bigger (24 cm high) than the middle white stripe (19
cm high), provided the same Magen
David construction as in the national flag is followed.
From the scan from the
legislation provided by Dov Gutterman, it seems that
the Magen David might be of such design that it is
'thinner' than in the national flag, making the problem even
bigger. Therefore I have assumed that the 2 cm
designation must refer to something else, not the width of the
stripes of the Magen David. For example, on the images
provided I have made this 2 cm to be the gap between the Magen
David and the blue stripes, which makes a reasonably good
assumption. The question is whether this is a fault pas
of the legislator, or translation or whatever or even if I
misinterpreted it.
Željko Heimer, 13 February 2002
![[Customs Jack (Israel)]](../images/i/il~custo.gif)
2:3 | 60 × 90 cm
image by Željko Heimer
Flag adopted 14 May 1948, confirmed 20th October 1965
The Customs jack is a 2:3 version of the Customs
house flag with minor differences in construction details.
Source: Customs flag legislation.
Željko Heimer, 13 February 2002
My notes in brackets:
Customs Ordinance [note 1]
Chap. 2. Sec. 5: Customs Flag
5. Vessels in customs authority service will carry, for identification, a flag in the determined shape.Customs Regulations 5766-1965 [adopted on 20 October 1965, note 2]
Chap. 2. Sec. 2: Customs flag
2. The customs flag as described and drawn in the 2nd supp. shall be hoisted on the Customs house and on bow of each vessel in customs authority service (...)Supp. 2
Part A: Customs House Flag:
The flag: 140 cm in length and 90 cm in width. The background: blue except the figure of the flag of the State of Israel as described hereafter.Figure of the flag of the State of Israel: In the upper left corner of the flag, next to the hoist, in height of 45 cm above the bottom length side. Background of the figure: white with two stripes of dark azure stripes on it, each stripe 6.5 cm wide, reaching all the length of the symbol from side to side. The upper stripe: at a distance of 6.5 cm from the upper length side. The lower stripe: at a distance of 6.5 cm from the lower length side. In the centre of the white background, between the the two azure stripes and in equal distance from both: a Magen David made of six azure stripes, each 2 cm wide, combined into two equilateral triangles whose bases are parallel to the two azure stripes along the flag.
The words Me'hes U'Blo [note 3]: embroidered in white between two concentrical circles whose centre is 20 cm far from the bottom side and 20 cm from the fly. Radius of one circle 10 cm and of the other circle 5 cm.
Part B: Jack:
The flag: 90 cm in length and 60 cm in width. The background: blue except the figure of the flag of the State of Israel as described hereafter.Figure of the flag of the State of Israel: In the upper left corner of the flag, next to the hoist, in height of 30 cm above the bottom length side. Background of the figure: white with two stripes of dark azure stripes on it, each stripe 4.5 cm wide, reaching all the length of the symbol from side to side. The upper stripe: at a distance of 4.5 cm from the upper length side. The lower stripe: at a distance of 4.5 cm from the lower length side. In the centre of the white background, between the the two azure stripes and in equal distance from both: a Magen David made of six azure stripes, each 1.5 cm wide, combined into two equilateral triangles whose bases are parallel to the two azure stripes along the flag.
The words Me'hes U'Blo [note 3]: embroidered in white between two concentrical circles whose centre is 15 cm far from the bottom side and 15 cm from the fly. Radius of one circle 8 cm and of the other circle 4 cm.
Note 1: The main Israeli legislation is divided into Ordinances (dating back to the Mandate era) and Acts.
Note 2: Here (and also in the civil ensign), the legislation came to replace previous legislation which had also the flag mentioned there. The civil ensign was probably adopted shortly after May 1948, and the customs flag replaced the Mandate era one at approximately same date.
Note 3: Meaning Customs and Excise.
Dov Gutterman, 26 August 2001
There are only three flags in Israel's (main) legislation, the
national flag, the civil
ensign and the Customs flag (and Customs jack). While the
first two are original Israeli flags, the Israel customs flag and
jack is a replacement to the British
Mandate Customs jack. (...) Both flags were adopted 13
September 1930 and abolished 14 May 1948 by the Israeli customs
flag. It was probably done by an ammendment to the Customs Rules
above, which later were replaced by the Customs Regulations
5766-1965.
Here are scans of the flag
image in that regulation and a close-up of the inscription.
Dov Gutterman, 5 and 8 September 2001
I have seen the Customs flag of Israel and found a source that
seems completely different to the present image. This flag is from World
Intellectual Property Organisation and can be seen at www.wipo.int/il6.jpg.
The document that support this image can be obtained at www.wipo.int/e0674.pdf.
The document is from 25th of August 1967 and was signed by the
Deputy Director of (then) BIRPI – United International Bureaux
for the Protection of Intellectual Property Mr. Ch.-L. Magnin.
The document bears the circular number 674.
Goran Imbrisic, 30 April 2008
The basic problem with this flag of the Israeli Customs
Service is that it is reversed. The canton showing the national
flag is at the hoist and not at the fly.
Ron Lahav, 30 April 2008
To me, that art work of WIPO would suggest the original
request just showed the flag, and someone at WIPO drew a version
with a staff so as to make clear that it was a flag, not
realising it ought to have been a sinister hoist.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 30 April 2008
We have the entire legislation introducing
this flag translated – 1967 Regulations include the drawing (but
without the indictaion of where the staff should be), but the
text of the Regulation is clear, the IL flag is "In the
upper left corner of the flag, next to the hoist".
We have no reason to believe that the pre-1967 flag was any
different from the post-1967 flag – the entire corpus of IL flags
and flag proposals do not give any hint for the theory that the
IL flag was set in the fly canton of any flag, so my assumption
to the WIPO document is – it is just a bireaucratic
error made by whatever the office was responsible for sending the
images to WIPO – setting the flag staf on the wrong side of the
image – without consulting the text of the decision.
I am confident that we may easily dismiss that as a possibility,
providing only a note on what we presume to be an error in WIPO
documents (i.e. documents provided to WIPO).
Željko Heimer, 2 May 2008
However, the WIPO illustration suggest that the badge on the
flag is shown incorrectly. The law says: "The words Me'hes
U'Blo [note 3]: embroidered in white between two concentrical
circles ..." but it doesn't specifiy their exact placement-
two words oriented separately, both right side up; or the words
just following around the perimeter of the circle, i.e. the lower
word upside down. Despite the WIPO version possibly messing up
the hoist placement, I would think it less likely that they would
be incorrect on two separate elements, and so the badge version
shown on the WIPO image would be more likely to be correct.
Ned Smith, 2 May 2008
As Željko wrote, the legislation is clear. The flag at
1965 legislation is the same as announced on May 1948 as the
replacement for the Mandate era flag.
However, there is a change in the badge as the lower word (U'Blo)
is written upside down at the legislation and its image, and upside up at this
image.
For sure, this is a mistake of the image maker. However, it may
suggest that the actual flag in use may had the same mistake.
The flag itself is not of use anymore.
Dov Gutterman, 3 May 2008
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