Netanyahu's Digital Finance Plan Draws Attack From Eisenkot's Yashar Party

Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar party and a former IDF chief of staff, attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal for alternative financial mechanisms on Saturday, releasing a campaign video on X/Twitter that framed the plan as an admission of economic failure. The video opened with the line 'All of our money is at risk' and argued that digital currency mechanisms would sever Israel from global capital. The prime minister has not yet presented a specific proposal for legislative action.

The video repurposed footage from an earlier Channel 10 interview in which Netanyahu discussed the international sanctions facing Israel. In that appearance, the prime minister stated that Israel must 'prepare for an alternative economy' and acknowledged that digital finance would 'certainly' be part of any such plan, adding, 'I've already asked for a plan to be prepared for that.' Eisenkot's campaign assigned a mocking label to the concept, calling it 'Bibicoin.'

Yashar's video argued that such a mechanism would produce 'an economy like North Korea and Iran,' and that the result would be 'the end of high-tech, the end of healthcare, the end of security.' The video also raised a question about investment, asking how the global high-tech industry could put money into Israeli companies if digital currency were the only method available. It closed with the line, 'We must not let him burn through our savings.'

On Saturday, Eisenkot posted separately on X regarding the issue, stating, 'Netanyahu himself admits that the policy he's leading and wants to lead Israel toward will result in international isolation and economic sanctions that will shake the economy and the market.' He added, 'This will be the collapse of our national security.'

Netanyahu's comments in the Channel 10 interview preceded Eisenkot's video, and the campaign material drew directly from that footage. The exchange places the prime minister's contingency planning for economic sanctions at the center of the political debate, with Yashar using Netanyahu's own words to construct its criticism.

Yashar has not announced a date for further activity on this issue, and the prime minister's office has not released a follow-up plan following the request for a digital finance proposal.