Bar Refaeli
Photo: Ron Kedmi
Ariel Sharon
Photo: AFP
Survey: Israelis want Sharon on banknotes
If Israel redesigns its bills, most Israelis would prefer to see Sharon or Rabin on the new banknote, but model Bar Refaeli and actor Eyal Kitzis get votes too
Israelis, it turns out, don’t feel any particular attachment to the famous faces gracing their banknotes. Maybe they’ve seen Moshe Sharett and Yitzhak Ben-Tzvi changing hands too many times. But whose mug would they prefer to see? A new survey sponsored by the Mizrahi Tefahot bank discovered that should banknotes be redesigned, Israelis would be most pleased to see Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s face on the new bills.
Following Sharon, who won 15 percent of votes, 13.7 percent of Israelis chose former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Prominent rabbis, such as Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Kadouri, the Rambam, Rav Kuk, came in third with 11.5 percent of the votes.
Menachem Begin earned 7.9 percent of the votes, followed by David Ben-Gurion with 4.5 percent. But popular celebrities such as model Bar Refaeli, footballer David Beckham, and Eretz Nehederet host and actor Eyal Kitzis, followed close behind with 4 percent of the vote.
About 2.5 percent of those surveyed mentioned various Knesset members and ministers such as Silvan Shalom, Amir Peretz and Shimon Peres. An equal number, however, said they’d most like to see a member of their families on a new bill.
Theodor Herzl, Golda Meir and Rehavam Ze’evi brought up the rear with roughly 1 percent of the vote each, and 1.4 percent of those questioned noted they would prefer pictures of nature or scenery over portraits of famous figures.
About 18.5 percent of those surveyed said they had no preference. The survey questioned 500 Israelis aged 18 and over, and was carried out by the Teleseker market research and information company.
