The emblem of the Knesset has been since the convening of the Constituent Assembly in early 1949 the emblem of the state as it is for the other branches of government - the executive and the judiciary. Early October 2013 the chairman of the Knesset Knesset Yuli Edelstein decided that the Knesset needs a new emblem because "The Knesset has difficulty explaining itself. It need to better convey information on what it does and to distinguished itself from the government and especially to differentiate itself for negative events occurring in it".  His decision sparked a significant public outcry, 13000 citizens signed the petition initiated by the Conservation Council of the Israeli values​​.

 

Edelstein is not the first politician seeking to differentiate himself. The Defence Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Minister of Culture, the Minister of Infrastructure, the Minister of Agriculture and other ministers discarded the State Emblem and introduced their own private symbols. Even senior officials, who head government agencies or departments of government offices have introduced symbols of their own (even if their responsible minister was using the State Emblem).

Thus, the "Corporate identity " of the government is getting eroded. The visual representation of the national ethos is crumbling .

 

The Knesset Speaker and the Director of Government publication initiated a competition in design schools. The competition guidelines stated that students' submissions must include the State Emblem in their proposed Logo for the Knesset. [no distinction is made between logo and emblem] or within the graphic vicinity of their logo. There was no guideline about the use of official languages ​​of the country - Hebrew and Arabic. There was also no guidance as to the weight that should be given to the logo of the Knesset versus the weight to be given to the State Emblem. "We want it to project a young, new look for the Knesset as a socio-political arena " - was an Edelstein quote included in the Knesset announcement.

 

Last month the Knesset released the five finalists' proposals. Without expressing an opinion on the quality of the work, it should be noted that the State Emblem appears in only one proposal. The other four designs have not combined the State Emblem into their proposed Knesset logo. Instead, a tiny image of the State Emblem appears in "the  graphic environment" - of their proposed letterhead and business cards. All of the proposed designs consist of architectural elements of the Knesset building - a modern version of a Greek Acropolis.

 

What next ? A Knesset Flag to dissociate itself from the other government authorities? And possibly its own anthem to dissociate itself from the people?

 

Will the new Knesset logo succeed in giving information on the workings of the Knesset? Will it differentiate and protect the Knesset from the negative events occurring in it?

 

And what about the future? Will the "young look, new and current" objective require updating the logo by the Speaker of the Knesset in 20 years?

 

Yoram A. Shamir, researcher and curator of exhibition, is the son of one of the Shamir Brothers, the  designers of the State Emblem,   February 2014