London Mayor Sadiq Khan's administration addressed Tuesday allegations that the Jewish symbol was excised from the New Year's Eve illumination, explaining that the all-but complete omission was attributed to a technical glitch beyond its control.
Diverse national flags were cast onto the London Eye during the annual festivities, according to the outlet. Roughly 100,000 observers on the Thames banks witnessed the spectacle, which seemingly featured a noticeable error, per GBN.
BBC video displayed the flag of Israel as merely white with dual blue stripes. The Star of David was absent from the projection, although it did appear later in a barely visible display. Officials at City Hall firmly rejected claims of censorship, arguing that the animated nature of the display obscured details, GBN stated. While a void appeared where the emblem belonged, other nations with blue and white designs – including Argentina, Guatemala, and Honduras – faced identical visual distortions.
As the sequence concluded, the star appeared faintly but remained obscure. A representative for the city announced: "A range of flags were displayed on the London Eye to represent the wide variety of countries of origin of people who live in and contribute to the success of London."
It's barely visible in the YouTube footage, but I'm told the Star of David was not intentionally omitted, it eventually come up, and the same technical problem affected a number of blue and white flags, including Guatemala, Argentina and Honduras. https://t.co/zcLmvrtnyz pic.twitter.com/adwYjsojWn
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) January 1, 2026
"These animated flags were small and moving so were not all entirely clear at every point as they gradually formed into the Union Flag." Eylon Levy, who formerly served as an Israeli government spokesman, who initially went on the offensive to demand explanations for the supposed deliberate omission, ultimately told his followers on X that upon checking with relevant people, he concluded that there was no foul play. He posted on X: "I thought this was a hoax, so I checked myself," he wrote when the news first broke, adding that "The Star of David was removed from the Israeli flag during last night's fireworks display at the London Eye. Just a white flag, with two blue stripes – and the Jewish symbol gone. Mayor Sadiq Khan has a lot of explaining to do."
But Levy later then reposed his tweet with a correction: "It's barely visible in the YouTube footage, but I'm told the Star of David was not intentionally omitted, it eventually come up, and the same technical problem affected a number of blue and white flags, including Guatemala, Argentina and Honduras."
