Yashar Chair Targets PM: 150 Billion Shekels at Stake in Digital Finance Dispute

Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar party, released a campaign video on Saturday on X/Twitter to attack Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed financial contingency plans. The former IDF chief framed the prime minister's suggestion to prepare alternative financial mechanisms as an admission of economic failure. Eisenkot's video, which opened with the warning that all of the country's money is at risk, centers on a specific figure: 150 billion shekels.

The ad relies heavily on clips from a prior Channel 10 interview where Netanyahu discussed Israel's economic position. In that interview, the prime minister stated that Israel must prepare for an alternative economy due to numerous international sanctions. He specifically acknowledged that blockchain technology would certainly form part of this strategy. Eisenkot's campaign seized on this comment, labeling the proposed digital finance system "Bibicoin." The video argues that this mechanism would destroy Israel's economic stability.

The campaign video presents a stark contrast between the current state and the proposed alternative. It claims that an alternative system modeled on digital finance would create an economy similar to those of North Korea and Iran. The ad lists specific sectors it believes would collapse under such a regime, including high-tech, healthcare, and security. Eisenkot's team argues that the prime minister's plan effectively burns through national savings rather than protecting them.

In a separate post on X, Eisenkot adopted a more personal tone to reinforce the video's arguments. He wrote that Netanyahu himself admits his policy will lead to international isolation and economic sanctions. Eisenkot described this trajectory as a collapse of national security. He questioned how the global high-tech industry could invest in Israeli companies if digital currency became the only available method for transactions.

The exchange places the prime minister's economic contingency thinking at the center of the political debate. Eisenkot uses Netanyahu's own words from the Channel 10 interview as the primary evidence for his critique. The former defense chief positions the digital finance proposal not as a forward-looking strategy, but as a desperate backup that endangers the country's financial reserves.

The 150 billion shekels figure cited in the dispute represents the value of assets Eisenkot claims are at risk. The Yashar party's strategy relies on contrasting the prime minister's admission of a need for an alternative economy with the potential catastrophic results of that alternative. The campaign suggests that the current path leads to a fragmented and isolated financial system.