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David Sable
Change The World

Your are my flag

The National Flag Of Israel. licensed from Shutterstock

One of my earliest memories of kindergarten is holding an Israeli Flag and leading my class, at an assembly of grade school classes, in singing “degel, degel, degel tov. Degel tov sheli. Ata degli. Ata degli. Ata degli. Degli.” “Good flag. You are my flag. My flag.”

We didn’t sing Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem, yet…that came later as we advanced classes…..but this little song was powerful. We all stood at attention. Serious. It was our flag. My flag.

I Carried It As An IDF Soldier

And, that flag figured prominently in my life. I carried it at the head of our school delegation as we marched up Riverside Drive in NY at the first Israel Day Parade….I hid it under my shirt and revealed it as we operationalized the first ever protest sit-in inside the  UN Headquarters in NY protesting the UN’s lack of response to the tragic Maalot massacre…..I carried it, in a most emotional moment, as an IDF soldier when I was part of the honor guard at a ceremony in Yad V’Shem for a non-Jew being inducted into the rare stratosphere of the “Righteous of the Nations” and I marched behind it, into the main stadium in Abu Dhabi…years before the Abraham Accords… when I accompanied the Israeli Delegation to The Special Olympics, proudly entering the stadium to cheers as they sang “Havenu Shalom Aleichem”  …”We come to greet you in Peace”.

Powerful Moment…

Yet…one of the most powerful moments that I have ever had with “My Flag”, our flag, was and is seeing it prominently displayed and proudly carried by the demonstrators who, all over the world, are protesting many of the policies of the current Government of Israel.

Malcontents? True Patriots!

Despite the rhetoric that somehow this group of malcontents represent nothing more than failed and bitter left wing agitators and traitors… it is clear that with every passing day the protest movement grows in size and scope and the crowd is a true representation of Israel’s citizenry including secular and observant; immigrant and born; Ashkenazi and Sephardi and everything in between.

Generals; Veterans; Business Leaders and a Prime Minister

Just as importantly it includes former Prime Ministers, generals and heads of security; army veterans; politicians; business leaders and on and on. Bottom line this is not some fringe group to be dismissed or a minority viciously rampaging ignoring the laws of our country….and the ethics of our heritage. Not to mention calling to mind the kind of abhorrent evil that we as a people suffered at the hands of our oppressors.

Unconditional Love

I recently wrote about Unconditional Love and how important it is that we remember that our love for Israel be unconditional. But I also made clear that the price of Unconditional Love is accountability for the subject at hand.

Don’t Put It Down….

As a teen I managed to see the play Hair when it was still deemed not just provocative, but perverse because of the nude scene and Anti-American because of its themes. One of the important songs was “Don’t put it down” a song with a message, about the US flag,  to both protesters and their protagonists that said: “Don’t put it down, Best one around…crazy for the red, white and blue…”. Hold unto it and don’t demean it.

Don’t Let It Be Desecrated

I am deeply and emotionally proud that my flag…our flag is the centerpiece of all the demonstrations. Clearly we aren’t putting it down. However, I do believe that the flag, our flag, my flag, is being desecrated by criminals….haters and some who don’t even recognize it’s very existence.

Politics are politics. You have yours and I have mine. Despite our differences it is our flag. Yours and mine. You don’t own it because you think you do and you can’t take it from me because you think you can.

We all need to agree that a small minority is desecrating our flag. Don’t let them.

DEGEL TOV SHELI….ATA DEGLI. DEGLI

About the Author
David is one of the most sought-after advisors; consultant; speakers and mentor in the global marketing community. David is also a prolific writer and published children’s author…”What Would You Wish For”; a designated LinkedIn Influencer, where he ranks among the most widely read business leaders in the world and a Social Activist working for an end to gun violence; hunger and in-equality. As Global CEO and Chairman of Y&R, David propelled Y&R to a top five global creative firm at Cannes, developed new resources and practice… Healthcare; BtoB and an in-house innovation accelerator called The Spark Plug….. expanded the global footprint of VML, and ultimately helped unify Y&R and VML into one marketing powerhouse: VMLY&R. All while evangelizing the spirit and competitive advantage of innovation and collaboration. David’s involvement in the advertising industry has spanned more than 40 years, clients ranging from Fortune Ten to day old start-ups, beginning at Y&R as a trainee in 1976. After his initial stint at Y&R, David worked at Wells Rich Greene before relocating to Israel, where he co-founded an agency, Mimsar, that focused on the then-nascent hi-tech industry, which was the foundation of “The Startup Nation.” Upon returning to the U.S., David joined the Y&R network once again, mentored by the late Harold Burson at Burson-Marsteller, and Cohn & Wolfe, where he led major accounts in Business to Business, Financial as well as Consumer. In 1990, he returned to Y&R to lead the global portion of the agency’s international Colgate-Palmolive account driving the first ever coordinated global launch of a toothpaste. There, he helped pioneer Y&R’s cross-agency team approach on the USPS account, transforming it into an award-winning industry benchmark. In 1996, David became a founding partner of one of the first digitally-focused omni-channel startups, Genesis Direct. In 2000, he took that experience to Wunderman…mentored by the late Lester Wunderman, ultimately serving as its Vice Chairman, helping them transition into WPP as a digital/data powerhouse, before returning to Y&R as Global CEO. Amongst the accounts he led and drove were Microsoft; Dell ; IBM; Altice; Citi-Bank; AT&T: Kraft and Pfizer to name just a few. David is active in the industry as former Chairman of the Advertising Council’s Board of Directors and, for many years before, a Director-at-Large of the 4As. He has served as Jury President at Cannes three times and was a member of the Titanium jury. He now serves as a keynote speaker at major global events, motivational speaker and advises industry leaders worldwide. In 2013, Fast Company named David one of the 10 Most Generous Marketing Geniuses. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of both UNICEF/USA and the International Special Olympics, as well as the Executive Board of UNCF. David is also a Board Member of American Eagle Outfitters’ one of the most successful retail clothing brands on line and off and was Executive Producer on MTV’s highly acclaimed REBEL MUSIC series. David and his wife, Debbie, have two daughters, two sons-in-law, five treasured grandchildren — Henry, Teddy, Gemma, Goldy and Sadie.