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Opposition leader Yair Lapid speaks at a conference in Tel Aviv, earlier in October. Credit: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv
Opposition leader Yair Lapid speaks at a conference in Tel Aviv, earlier in October. Credit: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv
Opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of causing international sanctions and a U.S. aid cutoff, saying sanctions “will devastate our economy, cause prices to skyrocket and inflict irreparable damage” after the prime minister suggested turning to cryptocurrency.
Lapid urged Israelis to vote for the opposition, saying it can “form a sane, responsible government this coming Tuesday, with a clear foreign policy and an effective hasbara apparatus. Only such a government of reform will ensure the continuation of U.S. military aid and prevent sanctions that would bring our economy to its knees.”
Opposition MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu), who leads the Knesset cryptocurrency lobby, said Netanyahu’s reelection would lead to “economic sanctions and political isolation. Instead of fighting the sanctions and ensuring that the State of Israel remains part of the Western world, he is selling us the vision of Iran.”
Forer said he had pushed a move to cryptocurrency and submitted a regulation bill, but “Netanyahu buried the crypto industry, despite all the discussions we initiated in the Knesset … and pushed the industry out of Israel. Now he presents crypto as a solution to sanctions as if it were a dark and illegal field.”