WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s currency, the shekel, and its stock market fell on Monday, a trend analysts believe is linked to fears over prime minister Benajmin Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judiciary and a recent spike in violence.
On Monday, the shekel fell for the fourth straight day, hitting 3.488 to the U.S. dollar before rebounding slightly to 3.47, a drop of 0.9 percent from the day before.
Meanwhile, the blue-chip Tel Aviv 35 index dropped 1 percent and the broader TA-125 index dipped 1.7 percent. Regime bond prices, meanwhile, fell as much as 1 percent.
Financial analysts said that the decrease is due to fears over controversial so-called reforms Netanyahu plans to introduce.
Jonathan Katz, chief economist at Leader Capital Markets, told Reuters stocks fell “for the same reason the shekel is weakening - concern regarding the judicial reform”.
On Friday, dozens of bank directors warned Netanyahu that some clients are withdrawing cash from their accounts and exchanging it for U.S. dollars as they fear the shekel will weaken more as political tension escalates.
Netanyahu met 30 bankers and insurance, tourism and tech directors at the headquarters of his Likud party in Tel Aviv.
Dov Kotler, the CEO of Bank Hapoalim, told Netanyahu most people who withdrew their deposits in the past weeks were depositors who worked in the high-tech industry.
Last week, 270 economic experts cautioned Netanyahu that authorizing changes to the judicial system, which would give the Knesset the power to vote down supreme court rulings with a thin majority, is threatening the future of the regime.
In a statement, they warned that the regime’s credit rating would decline, and foreign investments would be deterred, while tech workers and companies could move abroad, resulting in a “brain flight” from the occupying regime and lasting damage to the economy.