Eisenkot's Yashar Party Ad Targets Netanyahu's Digital Currency Financing Idea

The video opened with a stark line: "All of our money is at risk." Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar party, released the campaign clip on X/Twitter on Saturday, attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to develop alternative financial mechanisms.

The footage cut to a prior Channel 10 interview in which Netanyahu said Israel must "prepare for an alternative economy" in response to the international sanctions the country faces. In that same exchange, Netanyahu said digital finance would "certainly" form part of any such plan and added, "I've already asked for a plan to be prepared for that."

Eisenkot's campaign attached a derisive name to the concept, calling it "Bibicoin." The video argued that such a mechanism would "destroy Israel" and claimed it would produce "an economy like North Korea and Iran," followed by "the end of high-tech, the end of healthcare, the end of security." It also stated, "We must not let him burn through our savings," and questioned whether global high-tech firms could invest in Israeli companies if digital currency were the only available method. The video further claimed 150 billion shekels face risk under the proposal.

In a separate post on X, Eisenkot wrote that Netanyahu's own policy direction points toward international isolation and economic sanctions. "This will be the collapse of our national security," Eisenkot wrote. He has served as chairman of the Yashar party after a career as an IDF chief.

Netanyahu's remarks on preparing an alternative economy, including digital finance mechanisms, came from the Channel 10 interview referenced in the Yashar campaign video. The exchange over the proposal places the prime minister's contingency planning at the center of the political debate, with Eisenkot building his criticism on Netanyahu's own words from that broadcast.

The video and Eisenkot's accompanying X post were both published Saturday. No government response to the criticism was included in the campaign materials or the accompanying post.