The “Ink Flag”

On March 10, 1949, two Israeli brigades -- Negev and Golani -- converged on the police station of Umm RashRash on the Red Sea, now known as the resort city of Eilat, and occupied it without firing a shot. This act completed the occupation of the Negev Desert, allocated to their government by the United Nations partition plan and was the last operation of Israel's War of Independence. However none of the soldiers had remembered to bring a flag with them, so a soldier by the name of Micha Peri hand drew one by pouring blue ink on a sheet. The result was apparently a "kosher" Israeli national flag with one exception -- Peri appears to have smeared the Shield of David device, and filled it in entirely. This "design" was never used again.

This scene of raising the "Ink Flag" at Eilat is shown on a stamp issued in February 1998. The original poster mentioned the man who made the flag, but the man who is more famous is the man who hoisted the flag. His name is Avraham Adan, known as "Bren" (like the machine gun). He rose to be a general; his last commission in the army was commander of the Armory, some 25-30 years ago. Although the stamp does not show his face clearly, this is a rare case that a living (and identified) person is depicted on an Israeli stamp.