Netanyahu tells Israelis to prepare for banking sanctions and a bypass economy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview that Israel should get ready for the possibility of banking sanctions and build an economy able to work around them, according to several Israeli outlets. The Jerusalem Post reported that he warned the country could face such sanctions and was preparing an alternative financial system. The Times of Israel reported that he spoke of readying for global sanctions and of using blockchain technology to get around them.

In the same interview, Netanyahu also addressed American military assistance. Barak Ravid of Axios, posting on X, quoted him as saying US security aid to Israel was "over" and that Israel needed to prepare for "banking sanctions" with a "bypass economy". Ynet, the news site of Yedioth Ahronoth, described his words as saying the aid was about to come to an end.

What Netanyahu is reported to have said

The reports agree on three elements: that US security assistance is ending or has ended, that Israel could be hit by sanctions targeting its banks, and that the government should prepare a way of keeping the economy running despite them. The Hebrew phrase used, rendered here as a "bypass economy", suggests a financial system built to route around restrictions rather than one that depends on normal access to international banking.

Only The Times of Israel, in its headline, mentions blockchain, the distributed ledger technology behind cryptocurrencies, as part of that plan. The Jerusalem Post refers more generally to an alternative financial system. The material available does not describe how such a system would work, who would build it, or whether any concrete steps have been taken.

Why banking sanctions matter

Israel's economy is closely tied to global trade and investment, and its banks rely on international payment channels to move money abroad. Ravid, in a later post, said that what most troubled him was that Netanyahu's reference scenario appeared to be a cutoff from SWIFT imposed by a democratic government, rather than a lesser step such as suspension of Israel's association agreement with the European Union.

SWIFT is the messaging network that banks around the world use to send instructions for cross-border payments. Being removed from it makes ordinary international transfers far harder. The EU-Israel association agreement is the treaty framework that governs trade and political relations between Israel and the European Union, its largest trading partner bloc; calls to suspend it have been a recurring point of pressure in European debate.

How commentators reacted

The reaction in the reports is overwhelmingly critical, and much of it is opinion rather than news reporting. Ravid compared the approach to Vladimir Putin's Russia, only without oil and gas, and in another post to the policy of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. He wrote that there is no such thing as a bypass economy and argued that the path described would mean higher prices, deep poverty, shortages of food and electricity, and isolation. He also wrote that Netanyahu appeared to accept the paralysis of Israeli banks and their disconnection from global banking as a given.

Ynet's commentary called the statement exceptional and dangerous, likening its weight to an announcement that Iran had developed a nuclear warhead. The piece argued that either Netanyahu had described a realistic scenario for the near end of Israel's economy, or he was not fit to lead the country.

Ravid also raised the question of how the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange would respond. He noted that the market did not react much the last time Netanyahu made a stark statement, when he said Israel needed to become a Sparta, a reference to the ancient Greek city-state organised around permanent military readiness.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports in this material names the outlet that conducted the interview or gives its full wording, so the exact phrasing of Netanyahu's remarks cannot be checked here. The reports differ slightly on the aid question: one quotes him as saying it is over, another as saying it is about to end. They do not explain which countries or bodies he thinks might impose banking sanctions, on what grounds, or on what timeline.

There is no response in this material from the United States government on the status of security aid, from the Bank of Israel, from Israeli commercial banks or from the Finance Ministry. No market data is given on how shares or the shekel moved after the remarks. Nor is there any detail on the alternative financial system itself beyond the single reference to blockchain.