Not according to Guardian...

"My colleague Michael Safi reports the flag in the cafe window appears to bear the Shahada: ?There is no god but the God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.? It is not the Islamic State flag.

He reports:

The flag that hostages appear to have been forced to hold up in the window of the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place is not the Islamic State flag ? but that isn?t to say that Isis is not involved in today?s incident.

The flag appears to bear the Shahada, an Islamic creed which reads: ?There is no god but the God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.?

It?s a perfectly benign symbol and appears across the Islamic world, including on the Saudi Arabian flag. But it has also been embraced by jihadi groups such as Jabhat Al-Nusra, an Al-Qaeda affiliate currently fighting in Syria."

Posted By: Dandy Highburyman, Dec 15, 00:25:08