Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Why Does This Ad Have IDF Soldiers Wearing Yellow ‘Jude’ Stars?

Israeli Hebrew-language newspaper Israel Hayom published on Wednesday a full-page, close-up image of the Israel Defense Forces’ uniform shirt — featuring a yellow star with the word “Jude” pinned to the pocket.

Judah Ari Gross, the military correspondent for the Times of Israel, tweeted out the image, which was captioned: “Know where you come from and where you’re going. Real Israelis don’t draft-dodge.”

Jews were forced by Nazis to wear yellow stars during the Holocaust as an identifier. There were different interpretations of the possible addition to the uniform within the few comments on the post.

“This is an absolutely terrible symbolism in so many ways,” one Twitter user wrote. Another, though, was in favor.

“The #Nazi forced reminded us who we and where we come from. Unfortunately new generations need to be reminded even today as we (because) we prosper,” he wrote. “Let us own and ware with pride what the #Nazi saw as humiliation.”

Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.