Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s suggestion that Israel could use cryptocurrency to circumvent future banking sanctions triggered alarm and ridicule among financial commentators, journalists and opposition politicians, who accused him of preparing Israelis for international isolation rather than preventing it.<\/p>\n
Did Donald Trump cross a line by endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Israel\u2019s elections?<\/p>\n
Speaking to Israel\u2019s Channel 10, Netanyahu acknowledged the possibility of banking sanctions and said he had requested a plan involving blockchain technology to help bypass them. His remarks, four days before the election, also included a warning that American military assistance would eventually end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is jaw-droppingly delusional. I wonder how the stock market here will take it,\u201d wrote HaSolidit, the personal finance blogger. <\/p>\n
Financial journalist Shlomo Teitelbaum questioned the vision behind the proposal: \u201cCrypto instead of diplomatic agreements? Bitcoin instead of the Foreign Ministry? Where has his good English gone?\u201d<\/p>\n
Former IDF spokesman Avi Benayahu responded with an exclamation: \u201cOh my God, listen twice.\u201d He listed what he understood Netanyahu to be announcing: the end of American aid, economic sanctions against Israel and a shift to a crypto economy. In another post, he expressed concern for the Bank of Israel governor, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the exchange rate.<\/p>\n
Journalist Attila Somfalvi voiced outright alarm: \u201cI can\u2019t calm down: Netanyahu is actually finishing Israel off. Leading us toward another disaster. This is insane. Frightening.\u201d He questioned whether voters wanted Netanyahu to continue leading the country.<\/p>\n
Criticism also came from inside the cryptocurrency industry. Avishai Ovadia, a founding partner at investment firm Collider, called the advice Netanyahu was receiving \u201cwrong and misleading.” <\/p>\n
He argued that public transaction records and the intermediaries needed to convert digital assets into conventional money made crypto a poor means of evading scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of admitting that another term for his government would bring an end to American military assistance and sanctions that would devastate Israel\u2019s economy. He warned of soaring prices and irreparable damage, arguing that a change of government could preserve US support and avert sanctions.<\/p>\n
Democrats leader Yair Golan called the interview another \u201cdetached and hysterical performance,\u201d adding: \u201cThe man has lost it.\u201d He argued that preventing sanctions required confronting Jewish terrorism, restoring Israel\u2019s international standing and protecting its strategic alliances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s suggestion that Israel could use cryptocurrency to circumvent future banking sanctions triggered alarm and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-655747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}