Jewish Agency head David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel to be known as the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. The country’s flag was adopted on October 28, 1948.

The symbol in the center of the flag represents the Star of David, which was chosen to represent the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland from August 29-31, 1897. On May 11, 1949, Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations by majority vote.

In 1950, Israel crowned the winner of the inaugural edition of the national beauty pageant called Malkat MaYofi (מלכת היופי‎), which literally means The Beauty Queen. Here are the winners: