Israeli flag to fly on Religious Council buildings

Even minor changes can be significant. Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Rav Eli Ben Dahan has sent out a letter to all city religious councils informing them that as he sees the Religious Council as being an important government service and instrumental in assisting the people, in the days leading up to Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut all religious council buildings should be flying the Israeli flag.
(source: Bechadrei)


Personally I would not have expected such a letter to have to be sent. I assumed there was already a law saying that all government buildings must fly the Israeli flag. If not all the time at least in the period of Yom haAtzmaut and Yom HaZikaron. Seeing this notice from Ben Dahan made me do some searching to see what the law is.

it turns out that only very few buildings by law must fly the Israeli flag. In 1986 the Flag and Emblem Law, which originally said nothing about what buildings must fly it, was amended according to the new section 2A the State flag shall be flown at these places (no official English translation this time):
a. main office of Government ministeries, authorities and statutory corporations.
b. on the building where Head of a Local Authority chamber is.
c. on the Administration building of the high education institutes.
d. on other public buildings and buildings of corporations which supply public services, as imposed by the Minister of the Interior in regulations on approval of the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee

As well, Section 2B states, "The State flag shall stand at the chambers of Ministers and Ministerial General Managers, court houses and other officials chambers as imposed by the Minister of Interior on approval of the above Knesset Committee."

In 1997 the law was further amended and the main administrative building of schools were also added to the list.

I guess as head of the ministry Ben Dahan can tell them what to do, even if by law there is no such obligation. I wonder what the penalty will be, of if one is even possible, if a specific religious council chooses not to fly the flag despite Ben Dahan's warning.

My personal opinion is that every government building should be obligated to fly the flag at all times, not just  on Yom HaAtzmaut.

Flying the flag for Yom HaAtzmaut might be a minor issue, overall in the scheme of things  but it is a major step in implementing policy of turning the Rabbanut back into a Zionist entity, as HaBayit HaYehudi had made part of their campaign.

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