The Israeli Flag

Moses Amschel Bauer was a money lender and the owner of a counting house based in Frankfurt in what is now Germany. In 1743 he placed a sign above the entrance to his business premises and it took the form of a red hexagram

His son, Mayer Amschel Bauer was born soon after and worked in the same line of business. During the 1760's, he was highly successful when working for a bank owned by the Oppenheimer family based in Hanover and he became a junior partner. While working for the bank he becomes acquainted with General von Estorff.

On the death of his father, Bauer returned to Frankfurt to take over the family business and recognised the significance of the red hexagram sign. Soon after he changed his name from Bauer to Rothschild. (Rot is red in German, Schild is German for sign).

Mayer Amschel Rothschild discovered that General von Estorff was now attached to the court of Prince William IX of Hesse-Hanau. At the time, this was one of the richest royal families in Europe and it gained its enormous wealth by the hiring out of Hessian soldiers to foreign countries as mercenaries in return for vast sums of money  He reacquainted himself with General von Estorff with the idea of selling him some gold coins and jewellery at discounted prices and as a result, Rothschild was introduced to Prince William himself who was more than pleased with the prices he charged.  Rothchild subsequently became a close associates of Prince William and expanded his business dealings with him and within his court.  Prosperity ensued and in 1769, he was given permission to hang a sign on the front of his business premises declaring:  "M. A. Rothschild, by appointment court factor to his serene highness, Prince William of Hanau."   In 1806, Napolean stated that it was his,   "object to remove the house of Hess-Cassel from rulership and to strike it out of the list of powers."  On hearing this, Prince William IX of Hesse-Hanau, fled Germany for Denmark and entrusted his entire fortune (valued at $3,000,000 at the time) to Mayer Amschel Rothschild for safekeeping.  According to legend, this money was stored in wine casks and hidden from Napoleon's troops but in reality it was never returned. Instead it was invested in gold from the East India Company and used to finance both Napoleon's and Wellington's armies During the next century and beyond, the Rothchild family expanded and used their acquired wealth to extend their power and influence throughout the world.

In 1948, they contributed $2 million to the re-election campaign of President Harry Truman. The sovereign state of Israel was declared soon after and, within half an hour, the USA under President Truman became the first foreign nation to give it recognition. The Parliament building in Jerusalem,  built  at a cost  of $7 million with money donated by the Rothchilds, was called the Knesset and still exists to this day The flag of Israel was unveiled and, despite tremendous opposition, it consisted of a blue coloured version of the Rothschild's hexagram sign. It angered many Jews who believed the Menorah was the oldest Jewish symbol in existence and should be used instead. They pointed out that the hexagram was not even a Jewish symbol but had to accept that piper payers normally call the tune