Anti-withdrawal activists revamp the national flag
Gush Katif memorial flag replaces Star of David with picture of destroyed Neve Dekalim Yeshiva.
By MATTHEW WAGNER
On the eve of Israel's 60th Independence Day, a group of rabbis and settlement activists have redesigned the national flag to memorialize what they call the disastrous destruction of Gush Katif in 2005.
Instead of the Star of David, a picture of the destroyed Neve Dekelim Yeshiva is featured on the revamped flag.
The yeshiva, which was demolished by Palestinians after the IDF and police forcibly evacuated the Jewish residents of the Gaza Strip in the disengagement, was built with a huge Star of David.
"We hope that the new flag will commemorate the disaster committed by the Israeli government and prevent future territorial compromises," said Shay Gefen, a spokesman for the Headquarters to Save the People and the Land.
The headquarters is run by Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, who has said in the past that his life mission is to publicize the opinion of the late Lubavitch Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson that any territorial compromises or expressions of willingness on the part of Israel to make such compromises endanger Jewish lives.
Wolpe has no official position in the Chabad movement.
Other personalities and rabbis connected with the organization include Hebron-Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior, Hillel Weiss, professor of Hebrew Literature at Bar-Ilan University, and Kiryat Motzkin Chief Rabbi David Druckman.