^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Psychological Warfare and Morale Flag (Israel)

still image located by Esteban Rivera

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In this news video by "עכשיו 14" (English: Now 14, an Israeli news TV broadcast), one can see at 6:06 a blue horizontal background with the Star of David in the middle, in bold white outline with the inscription in Arabic on top reading "الفتح الصادق" (English: The True Conquest). I'm not certain if this is a pro Israel or a pro Palestinian flag, since no claim for this has been reported yet and no further information is available at the moment. This footage has been taken today in the Palestinian city of Khan Younis during the operation "Swords of Iron".
Esteban Rivera, 23 December 2023

According to pictures posted on X (Twitter) (https://x.com... [picture] and https://x.com... [picture, picture]), the flag is Israeli and is connected to the IDF. Some claim this flag was used by IDF soldiers that came from the United States (claim). Overall besides the use of this flag briefly after the Israeli response in October 2023 and flyers dropped onto Palestinian territory (https://www.facebook.com... [picture] for example), this logo (and flag) is not widely used. However, https://x.com... [picture] does say that the name used on the flag is the name of military operations taking place. So, I conclude this is a morale flag used by the members of the IDF, when operating on Palestinian territory. In the terms of Hebrew names of this flag, I have seen either "אל-פתח אל-צאדק" [Hebrew transliteration of the Arabic "Al-Fath al-Sadeq" – see comment from William Garrison below] or "הכיבוש הצודק" (English: The occupation is right).
Zachary Harden, 16 September 2024

Esteban Rivera defined above the Arabic slogan as "The True Conquest". That led me to think: Hmmm, was there a "False Conquest", or some other "conquest" military operation? I wondered: What does that slogan mean in Arabic, and does it have some deeper Islamic connotation?
According to Google translator, the Arabic slogan is pronounced as "alfath alsaadiq" or "al-Fath al-Saadiq". "Al-Fath" means "the victory/(conquest)" and "al-Sadiq" means "the righteous" or "the righteous victory". So, does this slogan have some Islamic connection? Well, it just so happens that "al-Fath" is the title of the 48th chapter in the Muslim holy hook, the Quran/Koran, at Q.48 (see: https://quran.com/al-fath). It is a rather long chapter, where the Muslim prophet Mohammad revealed that his god ("Allah") had granted the Muslims a manifest victory through the peace "Pact of al-Hudeybiyah" (ca. 628 CE). This is when Mohammad accepted more of a temporary truce than an outright military victory over the non-Muslims of Hudeybiyah. Earlier, although Mohammad had convinced some of his followers in Medina to assist his attack on Hudeybiyah (in his attempt to capture Mecca where the Kaaba holy shrine resides), many were unsupportive and remained behind. Of immediate relevance to our blue-field Israeli flag is the Quran "al-Fath" verse Q.48:16: "You will be called to fight against a people of great might [Mecca], who you will fight unless they submit. If you then obey [to attack Mecca], Allah will grant you a fine reward. But if you turn away as you did before, He will inflict upon you a painful punishment."
With this in mind, and the Israeli military blistering attack into Gaza in response to the Hamas invasion of 7 October 2023, let us take a closer look at the original expanded photograph displaying this flag, at https://x.com... [picture] (In this screenshot, I am uncertain where the term "the Honest Occupation" translation/meaning comes from. The official name of the current Israeli military campaign since mid-Oct. 2023 is "Operation Swords of Iron", but maybe there are sub-campaign names too). About 5 meters above our blue-field Israeli flag, and slightly to the right, is a banner with the same Arabic slogan ("al-Fath al-Saadiq") as on the Israeli flag! The top banner appears to show an Arab warrior rearing up on a horse, as in a celebration of some battle victory (as seen in the enlargement). I thought: "This seems to be more than just a coincidence whereby both the Gaza banner and the blue-field Israeli flag have the same slogan in the same location." Was this Gaza banner – that urges Muslims into battle – captured by the Israelis, who duplicated the slogan onto their flag to mock the Gaza militants? Perhaps, but a more likely explanation is that the banner was part of an Israeli "PsyOps" ("Psychological Operations") campaign, whereby some Israeli PsyOps staff decided to develop this banner (and flag) to remind/taunt the Hamas militants to remember the Q.48:16 al-Fath cautionary note (paraphrased and updated a bit here): "You will be called to fight against a people of great might [Israel] ... but if you fail ... He will inflict upon you a painful punishment" – i.e. the extensive destruction of buildings by the Israeli military throughout the Gaza Strip in their hunt for subterranean militants.
William Garrison, 17 September 2024

Obviously the translations "honest occupation", "righteous victory", "true conquest" or "the occupation is right" are all variants of the same Arabic slogan "al-Fath al-Saadiq". – Ed.