According to CoinMeta, the Bank of Israel rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestion of using cryptocurrencies to help the country evade potential international sanctions, which represents a rare public rebuttal ahead of the national elections on Tuesday. In a statement on Saturday, the Bank of Israel stated that cryptocurrencies “cannot be used as a means to circumvent sanctions imposed on Israel.” The bank added that the right approach for Israel’s economy is to maintain economic relations with major trading partners and focus on preventing sanctions and their negative impact on the economy. Netanyahu stated in an interview on Friday that Israel needs to prepare for possible banking sanctions and called for the development of plans to use cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks to bypass these sanctions.