The National Library of Israel reverted back to its Israeli-flag-themed logo after heavy backlash over a new logo unveiled last week, which was heavily scrutinized by Education Minister Yoav Kisch as “lacking any connection to the Jewish People.”
The library announced the change to its logo on Wednesday from the original, which featured a minimalist rendition of a book in the colors of the Israeli flag.
The new logo featured only the name of the national library in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, in black font.
One point of criticism leveled at the library immediately upon its announcement is that the Hebrew section of the new logo only states “The National Library,” as opposed to the “National Library of Israel” as it does in Arabic and English.
The library responded, explaining that, “first of all, it is our official name. In English and Arabic, there are a lot of national libraries across the world,” it said, therefore needing the specification of the library belonging to Israel. “While in Hebrew, there is one National Library – ours!”
Education minister: Library’s decision to change logo ‘unfathomable’
On Sunday morning, prior to the decision’s reversal, Education Minister Yoav Kisch sent a letter to the national library’s director-general, Sallai Meridor, in which he blasted the “lack of any connection and identifiability to the Jewish People, the State of Israel, Zionism, or the Hebrew language.
“The Hebrew language is no longer front-and-center,” Kisch lamented. “Additionally, the logo that represents the Israeli flag was erased.”
The education minister wrote that it is “unfathomable that the national library would carry out actions to hurt the public trust in it and derail its ties to the State of Israel.”
National Library succumbs to public pressure
Following Kisch’s letter, the library released a statement on Facebook in which it said it would revert to the original logo following a “lengthy and important public debate. After a period of discussion and considerations in which we listened to the varying opinions and arguments, it was decided that the library would revert to its previous logo,” it announced Sunday.