interview: Maya Bentwich for the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons' Office
The Flag Project – Israelis creating hope
The Flag of Hope Project is a social-artistic initiative – a story of love for our country, of diverse Israelis with hope in their hearts, building a new Israeli whole.
Our goals:
Connect diverse communities, strengthen shared identity, ignite action, and encourage civic engagement.
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Create a creative, inspiring space where each participant moves from observer to change‑maker.
How we do it?
With people!
Through inspiration gatherings and emotional connection to #TheFlagOfHope, to become creators and ambassadors of hope.
An engaging, hands‑on gathering: an inspirational talk, the flag raising of “The Flag of Hope”, workshops, and circle discussions.
The vision: impact!
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So far, over 6,500 people have joined – and it works!
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Our 2026 goal: over 10,000 participants in Israel and beyond, sparking new civic initiatives for positive change.
Values:
Entrepreneurship & civic engagement, identity & belonging, responsibility, leadership, diversity, partnership, sustainability & hope.
The Flag project includes modular activities:
Inspiring lecture – Woman in Blue.
HOPE T-Shirt Printing Workshop.
Flag Raising Ceremony (documented with a drone)
Circle Discussions "I Am Hope".
Hope is not a wish – it’s a work plan!
The vision:
A Public-Space Photography Exhibition
"People Connecting Israel"
The journey of #Project_Flag_of_Hope will be documented and transformed into a photography exhibition showcasing the communities and individuals who hold and lift the flag — one community after another, creating a long human line.
The focus is on the people themselves: the citizens who connect and unite Israel.
For an activity quote please contact:
tal.czk@gmail.com
The purpose of the project is to speak hope, create hope, and become ambassadors of hope
From personal story to collective voice
In 2018, I dyed my hair blue. Israel turned 70, and I declared myself a flag. That year I began collecting discarded flags from roadsides. I saw them littered, people stepping on them – the sight made me sad. I picked up three that night and from then on began collecting.
In that year, I also suffered a deep personal break – I felt like a flag breaking. I promised each flag and myself: one day, we will rise high.
In 2020, a friend sewed the flags together and created the first “The Flag of the Flags”. For four years, I waved it across the country with a message of possibility, partnership, and hope.
I believed in the idea, I created the story, I created hope – until October 7th, when everything broke. I took it down from the pole and put it aside.
After the October 7th massacre, I visited a friend whose daughter and son‑in‑law were murdered in Nova. On the way home, I saw a flag abandoned on the road. I stopped and picked it up.
Since then, I have collected hundreds of flags, stitched into a giant flag, and between its layers I embedded memories, living legacies of those who died, moments and seeds of Israeli flowers with a prayer that life will bloom anew here.
When despair seeps in I remind myself this is a path – and imagination creates reality. Just as the flags broke and fell apart, we too broke – and yet we have the choice to act, to create the story and stand tall again. And so it happened!
In July 2024, we raised The Flag of Hope for the first time.
Since then, I have raised The Flag of Hope with dozens of communities, thousands of people, youth groups, schools, organizations, trauma survivors, and communities affected by the massacre.
And another, with the Druze community in Yarka
District Inspectors at the Ministry of Education
With Israir employees in Sderot
With the Angels' Voice Band – Children with Special Needs
The Education Team — Kiryat Chiyuch Dror
At the official ceremony in Sderot commemorating the October 7 massacre
Reim, on October 7th, 2025
For an activity quote please contact:
tal.czk@gmail.com
The Flag project includes modular activities:
Inspiring lecture – Woman in Blue.
HOPE T-Shirt Printing Workshop
Flag Raising Ceremony (documented with a drone)
The vision – A photo exhibition
The exhibition will feature hundreds of meters of photographs of communities — with hundreds of thousands of people holding the flag,
promising to act and do everything they can to spark initiatives and create partnerships, thus making a positive impact on reality in Israel.
Visualizing the vision
Time is NOW!
Let’s rise from the conflicts, with vibrant hearts and bright eyes, to create hope together
For an activity quote please contact:
tal.czk@gmail.com
#TheHopeFlagProject is dedicated to the memory of Maya Lorent and Eliran Mizrahi, murdered in Nova.
It is also dedicated to the memory of the thousands of young people, citizens, IDF soldiers, and security forces who have fallen.
May their lives be a light and a compass for acts of goodness, courageous connections, and hope in Israel.
Drone Photo: Sarit Kropka‑Wiegerten | Ra’i Ash | Amir Israeli | Tomer Czaczkes | Safefly
Additional photos: Uzi Porat (first flag) | Ofra Ron Mazor (Aryeh Yehuda & project photo) | Sarit Kropka‑Wiegert | Noam Feiner | Limor Shtaygman | Aya Czaczkes‑Tena | Guy Lahav | Nir Rotman (Shmonaim High School) | Dkela Mauda (Racing in Their Memory) | Keren Dagan Heller (Shemeshit) | Safefly | Yoram Shpirer
#flag #hope #Israel #community #inspiration #impact #activism #TheFlagOfHope #sustainability