Pokemon

CNN.com reported on March 26, 2001 that Pokemon games and cards were banned by Saudi Arabia because it had ssymbols including the "Israeli" Star of David.  Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) is a Japanese video game (1996) that has a huge success world wide. It contains 386 Pokemons which the players have to capture and train.  

 

Anti-Semitism test

Ronny Naftaniel wrote an article about the "Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents in the Netherlands for 2002 and January-May 2003" and in it he quotes Peter Pulzer, former Professor of Political Science and Modern History at the Oxford University, who suggested a test to check whether a certain statement is a legitimate criticism or an anti-Semite criticism. Among the questions one has to answer in this test is the following:

Does the artist or television producer use the Star of David to identify Israeli military equipment?

Ronny Naftaniel adds:

This happened at the anti-Israel demonstration in Amsterdam on 13 April 2002. Some of the ca. 15,000 demonstrators compared Sharon to Hitler and equated the Star of David with swastikas.

My general impression after intensive reading about Stars of David is that we are dealing here with a symbol that is so powerful that there are millions of people who love it with all their hearts while other millions hate it with all their hearts. This dualism is the main theme in the design of this emblem: one triangle pointing straight to the skies (love) while the other is pointing straight to hell (hate). These twins accompany mankind from the dawn of history and I don't expect the sudden disappearance of any of them.

Khazars

David Dahan wrote  an article titled "Jews protest trampled Star of David statue". The article is about a monument to Prince Svyatoslav recently erected in Belgorod, a town near the Russian-Ukrainian border.  The monument shows a horse rider crushing the Shield of David of a Khazar warrior. The sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov is a notorious anti Semite.  

The Khazars (652-1016) founded an empire in the Northern Caucasus along the Caspian Sea and later converted to Judaism.

On the KHAZARIA IMAGE GALLERY there is a photo of engravings on a metal disc of the Star of David "unearthed at two Khazar sites, one along the Donets River in eastern Ukraine and the other along the Don River in southern Russia". 

Lemba

Steve Jones wrote in his book (" in the Blood: God, Genes and Destiny" 1996, Harper Collins, London. ISBN 0-00-255511-5]) that the Lemba people in the northern part of South Africa and the south of Zimbabwe,

 

"Have clear Jewish elements: Lemba do not eat pork (hence the name: the 'people who refuse'), are circumcised and often use biblical names such as Solomon. They lay claim to a secret language, Hiberu. The Star of David and 'elephant of Judah' are everywhere in their homes".

 

Jay Sand wrote  an article about "The Jews of Africa" where he mentions that the flag of the Lemba features a Star of David and the Elephant of Judah.

 

The Star and the Flag

Gershom Scholem wrote an article about the Star of David where he said that 

"There is no reason to assume that it was used for any purposes other than decorative".

Uri Ofir wrote a research about the origin of the Jewish Magen David where he said:

"I didn't like the scholarly version presented by Gershom Sholem that every nation needs an emblem and that's why we adopted the Magen David (Star of David). Actually he didn't suggest any solution as regards the origin of the Magen David (Star of David). Beyond that I was convinced that on the level of values it's impossible to educate on the basis of opinions such as this".

These two excerpts led me to assume that Gershom Scholem didn't like the fact that the Star of David was chosen for the Israeli flag but then I found an article by Mark Verstandig who wrote :

"Gershom Scholem, the great Jewish scholar JUSTIFIED choosing the Star of David for the Israeli flag because the Jews were murdered under this sign. This sign has been sanctified by suffering and has become worthy of illuminating the path to life and reconstruction".

I think that the place of the Star of David is on the Israeli flag due to three main reasons:

1. The holocaust (as Gershom Scholem thought)

2. Its origin from the tabernacle Menorah (as Uri Ofir thinks)

3. Most of the Israelis think that's the place where it should be!

Hanging the Israeli Flags on My Balcony

I never felt the need to hang these white flags with their blue Stars of David on my balcony, although I was born the same year the state of Israel was born. I remember kids who were born the same DAY the state of Israel was born who were invited to the presidents' house on Independence Day – and I'm sure they all hang the flags without thinking about it too much; They and their children and their grandchildren. Not thinking too much was the reason I didn't hang the flag for so many years – there was no need to change my habits.
This year is different – I have this blog, which delves into the deep mysteries of the Star of David, and I follow the meaningful history of this symbol through the ages. I guess that's why I found myself joyfully hanging the Israeli flags on my balcony this morning. Maybe my next generations will hang it too - because of me...

Israeli car

Picture of a Magen David on a car is courtesy of Seth J. Frantzman from Flickr who shot it at New Acre. The owner of the car expresses his ardent patriotism, but you can write a nice film script about the drama that happens when he tries to sell this car to an Arab Israeli neighbor...