Ink Flag

The Ink Flag (Hebrew: דֶּגֶל הַדְּיוֹ‎, Degel HaDyo) was a handmade Israeli flag raised in March 1949 during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War to mark the capture of Umm Rashrash.

A modern re-construction of the Ink Flag.
Raising of the Ink Flag, a photograph by Micha Perry. The soldier on the pole is Captain Avraham Adan.

History

On 5 March 1949, Israel launched Operation Uvda, the last military maneuver of the war. On 10 March, the Israeli Defense Forces reached the shores of the Red Sea at Umm Rashrash, west of Aqaba in the area of biblical Elath, and captured it without a battle. The Negev Brigade and Golani Brigade took part in the operation. A makeshift flag created from a white sheet inscribed with ink was raised by Captain Avraham Adan, company commander of the 8th Battalion of the Negev Brigade.[1]

The improvised flag was made on the order of Negev Brigade commander Nahum Sarig, when it was discovered that the brigade did not have an Israeli flag on hand. The soldiers found a sheet, drew two ink stripes, and sewed on a Star of David torn off a first-aid kit.[2]

In Eilat, a bronze sculpture by Israeli sculptor Bernard Reder commemorates the event.[3] The photo of the raising of the Ink Flag, taken by the soldier Micha Perry, bears resemblance to the 1945 American photo Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.[4]

  • Close-up of the man on the pole
  • Commemorative sculpture by Bernard Reder

References
  1. General Avraham Adan: Soldier who raised the 'Ink Flag' that signaled the birth of Israel
  2. Nostalgia Sunday – Eilat Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Bernard Reder sculpture Archived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Former IDF general, Israeli icon Avraham Adan, dies at 86, Haaretz
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