Ahead of elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel could turn to blockchain and crypto to skirt potential international sanctions, to the dismay of opponents and the country’s central banker.

Blockchain has become an issue in this week’s Israeli elections after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that the country could turn to cryptocurrency to avoid strains on the economy from any potential international financial sanctions.

He told a local television interviewer that Israel is exploring the use of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies as a means of circumventing potential banking sanctions.

“Blockchain is an alternative to sanctions,” the prime minister said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 10 economic network on Friday.

His calling blockchain a “national strategic tool” signals a pivot in the government’s stance on the digital currency industry, from an investment event into part of the country’s economic defense strategy, reported CryptoJungle, Israel’s largest crypto media platform.

A dozen Western countries have announced sanctions targeting goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank in response to Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians and an increase in settlement construction approved by Netanyahu’s right-wing government. Those sanctions could extend into Israel proper, economists and industry figures told The Times of Israel last month.

Several of the candidates seeking to replace Netanyahu in the Oct. 27 elections, as well as the head of the Bank of Israel, were quick to challenge the prime minister’s statement.

“The BibiCoin vision is a threat to national security,” wrote Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot in a Saturday morning X post , using a play on Netanyahu’s nickname.

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