Israeli flag being made
Photo: Shai Rosenzweig
Flags for sale
Photo: Alex Kolomoisky
National flag sales down
Israelis less patriotic ahead of Independence Day. Flag manufacturers say fewer citizens purchasing flags; settlers anger towards State one reason
Flag sales are down ahead of Israel’s 59th Independence Day, according to Hadassah Berman, a Jerusalem resident and one of Israel’s veteran flag manufacturers.
“The trend began last year, but this year it’s grown stronger. It seems that people don’t have the desire to hang up flags. The ones still purchasing are factories, institutions, and organizations,” Berman said.
According to her, this steep drop stems from the lack of settlers purchasing flags in honor of this year’s festivities, since they are “angry with symbols of the State”. Those who do purchase a flag end up with a made-in-China product more often than not.
“How ironic is it that we manufacture national flags for Austria’s Independence Day, while authorities in our little country hang Israeli flags made in China,” said FGP general manager Avi Marom.
According to Marom, his factory distributed thousands of flags to the Jewish communities, mainly in the US and Europe.
David Shragai, a veteran flag manufacturer from Petach Tikva, continued his tradition of providing 25,000 flags for the graves of Israel’s fallen soldiers. “The Defense Ministry still prefers Israeli-made,” Shragai said.
