A Long and Flowing Whig: Republic of Judaea Flag Contest, submissions

In my timeline, A Long and Flowing Whig, Jewish rebels in southern Palestine have created a Jewish state named the Republic of Judaea. I have decided to have a contest to pick a flag for the new nation.

So the challange is to design a flag for a Jewish Republic in southern Palestine. You can either submit your designs here or by pm. Here is a copy of the post that tells of the creation of the Republic of Judaea.


Rebellions: From Jerusalem to Tripoli
Colonial rebellions are no new thing to the Europeans. Haiti rebelled against the French to gain independence, Latin America did so to Spain. Even the United States revolted against Great Britain to gain its independence. During the great war both sides would participate in inciting rebellions against their colonial masters. The idea of inciting rebellions was tossed around by the Europeans in 1909, but were put on the back burner because they needed to focus on the war in Europe. After the death of Kaiser Frederick III and the ascension of Kaiser Henry, the fighting stopped in Europe. However fighting would continue everywhere else. During the peace conference at Gent, both sides would begin fighting more in the colonies, as well as putting the stratagem of inciting rebellions on the fore.

It would be Germany who would incite the first rebellion, in north Africa. North Africa was controlled by the British and French, with the exception of Morocco which is in the midst of a civil war, and a war between empires. However from Algeria to Egypt, the western alliance control north Africa, and thereby the Mediterranean Sea. The generals in Frankfurt devised a plan that would utilize a professor at the University of Berlin, Johan Sanger[1]. Johan Sanger was the head of Middle East studies at the University of Berlin. He could speak fluent Arabic, and could quote the Quran as easily as the Pope could quote the Bible. He was courted by the war department to lead a small expedition into Muslim North Africa. It would become known as Operation Wüste. Sanger would take with him 20 other scholars and students, and 100 soldiers. The expedition needed to small, and mobile. In March of 1910, by ship they were first taken to Morocco, and from there they made their way past the French lines and into Algeria. They would go from village to village, town to town, and tribe to tribe, and encourage them to rise up, using passages from the Quran as inspiration. By May of 1910 the expedition reached the border of Egypt, and there was yet to be a rebellion.

This did not discourage the German war department from the strategy of inciting rebellion. Their next attempt though was more daring then the first. An idea that hadn’t been brought forth for nearly 2000 years… a Jewish revolt. Between the mid 19th century and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire a surge of Jewish immigration from Europe to Palestine took place, buying land from absentee land lords, displacing Palestinians who lived there, who then put the anger most would have placed on the landlords, onto the Jews who purchased the land. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and Palestine gained independence new laws were enacted against the Jews. This slowed down the immigration of Jews from Europe to Palestine until the First Great Jihad in 1896-98. After the Jihad the British occupied Palestine, and under British occupation the anti-Jewish laws were not upheld, allowing Jews to practice their religion and participate in commerce unabridged. Between 1898 and 1909 the immigration of Jews from Europe to Palestine increase 10 fold of that it was before the Ottoman Empire.

The Jews who immigrated to Palestine focused around southern Palestine, east of the dead sea. Many moved to Jerusalem in order to be near the holy sites. By 1910, about a quarter of the population in Palestine were Jewish. The Jews desired their own homeland, just as other nationalities had. They hoped that they could one day turn Palestine into a Jewish country. Across Palestine many Hebrew Nationalist groups formed, creating paramilitary wings in case of ever needing to defend the Jews from the Palestinians, or from other possible threats. The German war department wanted to take advantage of this desire for independence. They began smuggling weapons to the Hebrew Nationalist groups, telling them to wait until the right time to rebel.

On Sunday, July 24, shots rang out in Jerusalem. Jewish Paramilitary groups began to capture vital points of the city and begun to take over government buildings. The British did not know how to respond to this. The revolting Jews were not targeting the British, only the Palestinians. In light of this, the British decided to evacuate Jerusalem, and allow the Jews and Palestinians to settle the dispute themselves. The British didn’t want to take sides. If they sided with the Palestinians they would lose the financial support of the Jews who were very grateful for the freedom they gained under British occupation. If they sided with the Jews the Palestinians were likely to revolt themselves. So the British decided to stay neutral as long as neither side were interfering with the British military.

The Jews took control of towns, cities and villages across southwestern Palestine, ejecting the local Palestinian authorities. They took control of land as far north as the northern coast of the Dead Sea, and as far south as the Sinai Peninsula, capturing most of Sinai east of the Canal, allowing the British to keep it. The British grew angry with the Jews in that they went and conquered land outside of Palestine, but they figured it was, for the time being, the best they could do. On August 7th, the leaders of the major Jewish nationalist groups in Palestine met in Jerusalem. On that day they created a provisional government, and declared the Independence of the Republic of Judaea, a Jewish Nation. The terms of their provisional government would be that they would establish civilian rule when the Republic of Judaea was recognized by the major powers, in particular the British.

Germany would be the first to recognize Judaea, followed by Austria-Hungary, and then by Russia. This sent a shockwave around the world. The democracies of the west were not sure how to respond. It was very evident that the Germans had funded this revolt, but the actions and desire that led to the creation of this new state was entirely that of the Jews. If the western allies recognized the Jewish State, it would give credibility to the German plan, if they didn’t then it looked as though they opposed the spread of democracy. The one western power that had little trouble with the matter was the United States. Being in a position where what happened in that part of the world made little difference, it was not as controversial. President Roosevelt in fact tried to play it up as a sign that the monarchs of the east were growing desperate as to establish a democracy themselves in order to defeat an alliance of them. Some in the religious community in the United States referred to passages in Isaiah 14, believing that this was a sign from God to say that the end of days was finally at hand. On August 21st, the Untied States Congress unanimously agreed to recognize the Republic of Judaea. On August 28th the French National Assembly would do the same. And on August 29th the British Parliament recognized the Republic.

Following the recognitions of Judaea, on September 4th, the first day of Ramadan, Muslims began to revolt in north Africa. They started in Tripoli and quickly spread out east and west. The revolt that the German war department had tried to incite finally detonated. The French and British would have their hands full in Africa, giving the perfect opportunity to the Germans in Europe.
 
I'll get things rolling with my own submission. This is a flag I designed for the Republic of Judaea. The three Hebrew words at the bottom are supposed to be, "Hope" "Freedom" "God". Those are the translations that were given to be by doitinhebrew.com. So they could be wrong. If they are, please tell me.

Israeli_flag.jpg
 
I'll submit a simple tricolor, as we have to have a few like that, and sometime's simple is best.

The light blue is the sea, the white is the land, and the red the blood spilled to get their state. I know it looks pretty common, but I checked, the closest is Luxumborg's flag which is basically this upside down (like Serbia and Russia)

STC.PNG
 
I based this flag on the recurrence of the number 4 in many Hebrew beliefs.

First, there are four Magen Davids (Star of Davids) with a single letter of the Tetragammon in each. (The letters are read from the right to the left.)

Second, the Stars, while appearing to shrink are actually meant to be the same size. It is meant to be an allusion to long distances Jews have traveled over the world and history to come back home; In regard to distances it also represents the new horizons for Jews in the world.

Third, since the letters are read right to left it represents one side of the flag represents the people coming towards God. While the reverse represents God coming toward the people.

Fourth, the four stars are a reminder of the Exodus by referencing the importance of the number four during Passover. (The Four Cups of Wine to drink on Passover, the Four Questions to be asked, the Four Sons to be dealt with, and the Four Expressions of Redemption to be said on the holiday.)

Fifth, the largest Star has part of itself moved off of the field. This represents that without vigilence on the part of Judea, that other nations can overshadow them, and causing another diasporia.

Finally, the colors of white and blue were chosen pretty much for the same reasons Isreal chose them in OTL. White a symbol of honesty, light, and peace. While a more sky-blue was chosen than that of OTL the color still symbolizes the same things: trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Black, for the letters of the Tetragammon, was chosen over other colors just for visiblity when viewing the flag.

judea.png
 
How religious is the state? The design of the flag depends on that. Anyway though, here is my submission:

Hanukiah.png
 
How religious is the state? The design of the flag depends on that. Anyway though, here is my submission:

The state is moderately religious. They invoke the name of God in their declaration of independene, while remaining secular enough to draw in the secularized jews.
 
I'll get things rolling with my own submission. This is a flag I designed for the Republic of Judaea. The three Hebrew words at the bottom are supposed to be, "Hope" "Freedom" "God". Those are the translations that were given to be by doitinhebrew.com. So they could be wrong. If they are, please tell me.

Israeli_flag.jpg

אלוהים would not be used. יהוה would be more likely to be used to write god.
Oh yeah and חופש is more like vacation then freedom, which is cool with me, lol.

Here is my submission.
418px-Jerusalem-coat-of-arms.svg.png
 
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אלוהים would not be used. יהוה would be more likely to be used to write god.
Oh yeah and חופש is more like vacation then freedom, which is cool with me, lol.

Here is my submission.
418px-Jerusalem-coat-of-arms.svg.png
Why "Jerusalem"? Is this OTL arms of some sort? Or did I misread the superscription?
 
Here's some ideas;

Flag 1; Five thin-and-thick horizontal stripes in three colors
OKhCa.png


Flag 2; The same with slightly different proportions and order of colors
ChEGu.png


Flag 3; The same with slightly different colors and sans the Star of David
xKpcl.png


Flag 4; A tricolor of unequal stripes, with a golden Star of David
juY4l.png
 
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