{"text":[[{"start":9.24,"text":"Israel’s central bank and opposition politicians have lambasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he said he was looking into using cryptocurrencies to circumvent potential international financial sanctions on the country."}],[{"start":22.76,"text":"Netanyahu’s comments come amid mounting international outrage over the policies pursued by his far-right government in the occupied West Bank, with several of Israel’s traditional allies announcing plans to impose sanctions on goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory."}],[{"start":39.52,"text":"In a blunt statement on Saturday, the central bank said cryptocurrencies “cannot serve as a means to circumvent sanctions imposed on Israel” and urged the country’s political leadership to take steps to defuse the mounting international pressure."}],[{"start":53.28,"text":"“The right course of action for the Israeli economy is to preserve economic relations with our primary trading partners and to focus on preventing sanctions and their negative impact on the economy,” the central bank said."}],[{"start":66.2,"text":"Opposition politicians also seized on Netanyahu’s comments — which he made days before an election that many Israelis regard as the most important in their country’s history — warning that the prime minister’s proposal for bypassing sanctions would turn Israel into an economic pariah."}],[{"start":81.28,"text":"Netanyahu’s main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, who heads the centrist Yashar party, accused the prime minister of “dismantling the Israeli economy”."}],[{"start":90.36,"text":"“Netanyahu has lost touch with reality,” Eisenkot wrote on X. “He has retreated into a world of delusions, proposing a ‘solution’ to the international isolation he himself created — by severing Israel from the global economy.”"}],[{"start":103.28,"text":"Yair Lapid, from the centrist opposition grouping B’Yachad, said the idea of a “bypass economy” floated by Netanyahu belonged in countries like “Iran, Russia, Venezuela . . . whose banks are cut off from the world, whose companies can’t receive payments, whose young people are fleeing”."}],[{"start":120.12,"text":"“That’s his vision. It’s not [the vision] of our enemies — it’s Netanyahu’s,” Lapid wrote on X."}],[{"start":124.72,"text":"The spat comes as several countries, including traditional allies of Israel, such as the UK, France, Canada, the Netherlands and Spain, have either imposed or pledged to impose sanctions in response to the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank — which are illegal under international law — and the refusal of the government to stop spiralling settler attacks on Palestinians."}],[{"start":148.64,"text":"In an interview with Israel’s Channel 10 on Friday, Netanyahu said that in light of the mounting pressure, Israel needed to “prepare ways to evade banking sanctions through an alternative economic system”. He added that this meant using cryptocurrencies and that he was “working on that too”."}],[{"start":165.64,"text":"He also warned that Israel would have to prepare for a less supportive US administration when President Donald Trump leaves office, adding that American funding for Israel’s military was likely to shrink as “America has changed”."}],[{"start":178.96,"text":"“It will end. It is only a matter of time,” Netanyahu said."}],[{"start":182.2,"text":"Eran Yashiv, professor of economics at Tel Aviv University, said Netanyahu’s remarks about using cryptocurrencies to bypass sanctions were “irresponsible”."}],[{"start":192.8,"text":"“The statement itself sent a signal that Israel’s leadership is unrestrained, lacks sound judgment and is capable of extreme actions,” Yashiv said."}],[{"start":201.08,"text":"“To take an economy at 20th place in world GDP per capita rankings and place it alongside pariah states such as Venezuela, North Korea and Iran, while destroying its economy, is an inconceivable act,” he added."}],[{"start":219.16,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792890835_8286.mp3"}