On video: Bezalel Smotrich: "I made a decision on a broad economic policy"/Knesset Channel
When I heard the angry words of the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, the chairman of religious Zionism at the faction's meeting, when he accepted the arbitrariness of the Americans, for imposing sanctions on four residents of Israel and causing their bank accounts to be blocked, I thought of the immortal sentence from the movie "The Good and the Bad" And the ugly": "If you want to shoot, shoot. Don't talk", in a heavy translation into Hebrew.
The Americans were silent and fired, not sure of the right target.
Because with all due respect to the scapegoat quartet that was chosen, it seems, in order to silence the pro-Palestinian movements in the US, there are bigger law breakers than them beyond the green line. It's not that they are righteous, God forbid, their criminal files could easily fill a small public library, but If the American government really wanted to do real justice and not just muscle, they could choose serious criminals from them.
But let's put that aside, because even if the choice is disproportionate, it is no longer relevant. Last week, President Biden together with his Secretary of State signed an order special presidential order against them, on the charge of violent activity against Palestinians that led to damage to human life and property. In doing so, they entered the very dishonorable black list, along with the Houthis in Yemen, the Revolutionary Guards in Iran, and the oligarchs in Russia.
This order drove Smotrich out of his mind. When Yanon's two accounts The Levy at Bank Leumi was blocked, followed by that of David Chai Hasdai at the Postal Bank, he was already on a rampage at the faction meeting. Only, unlike the Americans, he did not stop firing bursts of words into the microphone, which came out against the denial of the sovereignty of the Israeli banks, which aside from further annoying Biden, instead of pressuring
"The State of Israel cannot accept and stand against the action of the American administration, which marks over half a million residents of Israel as enemies instead of friends and allies," he said passionately
.
"It is not possible for an Israeli citizen, with Israeli money, in an Israeli bank, to be deprived of rights and assets due to an American order."
Smotrich.
May lead to a lowering of the credit rating/Niv Aaronson
Despite the virtual shooting, Smotrich understands that if the banks do not cooperate with the order, they will be kicked out of the global money transfer system, SWIFT, which will doom them to collapse.
Anyone who does not cooperate with the US sanctions is himself considered a collaborator of criminals.
Failure to comply with the order will expose the banks to compliance risks, money laundering, terrorist financing, legal risks and serious damage to reputation.
Say to the CEO of a bank in Israel "money laundering" and "USA" in the same sentence, and he will go into an acute anxiety attack, a post-traumatic phenomenon for the billion dollar fines imposed on the banks that were involved in the money laundering case in the USA a decade and a half ago. They learned about In their flesh, the Americans shoot. They don't talk.
Smotrich can also shoot, but he preferred to threaten to enact a law that would declare the Israeli banks ex-international territory, when he could have remained silent and signed a short document that would indemnify them for any damage, reputational, business or legal damage that would be caused to them following their refusal to comply with the sanctions. This would have made the piles of empty words, the pointless threats, and the cries of despair unnecessary. If the Minister of Finance knows that he was right, he should show public courage, and stand behind them financially with all his might.
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Why won't it happen?
Because there is no amount in the world that can compensate them for the damages they will suffer if they do what the minister expects them to do.
When we asked the minister's office if the indemnification of the banks was on the agenda, the office did not comment on the matter and only replied that "the minister is in discussion with the supervisor of the banks regarding the sanctions."
So what is left for Smotrich is to make a fuss, talk, and push the international credit rating companies that still show some compassion towards us because of the war, to lower our credit rating, because of the government's improper intervention in the banks' decision-making.
More on the same topic:
Bezalel Smotrich
banks
U.S
Sanctions
Settlers
Bank of Israel
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