The cabinet today approved the new series of banknotes on which appear Israeli poets: Rachel the Poetess will appear on the NIS 20 banknote; Shaul Tchernichovsky will appear on the NIS 50 banknote; Leah Goldberg will appear on the NIS 100 banknote; and Nathan Alterman will appear on the NIS 200 banknote. The Turkel committee and Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer chose the portraits, and which poet appears on which banknote is based on the date of their death, beginning with Rachel. The new banknotes will enter circulation next year.
The cabinet meeting that approved the banknotes was stormy. Minister of Galilee and Negev Development Silvan Shalom abstained, claiming that the selection of public figures was unreasonable and did not represent the entire nation. "It is unacceptable, unreasonable, and illogical that not even one Sephardic Jew appears on the banknotes," he said. "The figures on the banknotes are supposed to represent the entire nation. The current situation distorts and does not include key figures of Sephardic Jewry. This issue should have been a bridge that unites, rather than perpetuate the current situation."
Shalom is furious that the last time the portraits on Israel's banknotes were changed was in 1985 (when Israel changed its currency to the New Israeli Shekel). "Today's decision will last for at least the next 25 years, during which key figures of Sephardic Jewry will not be represented," he said.
Minister of Science and Technology Daniel Hershkowitz (New National Religious Party) voted against the new banknotes. "There is no doubt that all four poets were great and worthy, but Hebrew culture does not end with Tchernichovsky and Goldberg. Heroes who are not a secular Ashkenazi should have been among the four."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer on his choice of portraits. "The poets chosen are part of the agreed upon pantheon of Israeli poets of the new age. At each cycle of renewal, persons were chosen from different categories, and I assume that we will again chose statesmen," he said.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 10, 2011
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