Bank of Israel Governor Dr. Karnit Flug today gave the first new NIS 20 and NIS 100 banknotes to President Reuven Rivlin and to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The Governor announced that, starting tomorrow, Thursday, the new banknotes will be distributed to the public through the commercial banks, automatic teller machines, and branches of the Post Office.
Earlier this morning, the Governor visited the city of Yavneh and for the first time showed the new banknotes to members of the Student Council at the Leah Goldberg School of Art. Goldberg’s portrait is featured on the NIS 100 banknote. In recent weeks, the students at the school had training sessions with representatives of the Bank of Israel Currency Department, during which they heard explanations of the new series of banknotes—the Poets Series. The Governor spoke with the students about the new banknotes, the security features they contain, their accessibility to the visually impaired, and the expected distribution of the banknotes as they are put into circulation.
The new banknotes, like all the banknotes in the new series, present advanced standards of security, innovation and accessibility, and contain a variety of security features against counterfeiting. The new NIS 20 banknote bears the portrait of Rachel the Poetess (Rachel Bluwstein), is red, and is 129 mm long. The new NIS 100 banknote bears the portrait of the poetess Leah Goldberg, is orange, and is 143 mm long.
The Bank of Israel clarifies that banknotes from Series B of the new shekel, which are still in use by the public, will continue to serve as legal tender for a number of years, and will continue to circulate in parallel with the new banknotes. Since the process of replacing the banknotes is gradual, the public is not required to take any action at this stage to replace the banknotes, and when the banknotes are deposited with the Bank of Israel by the banking corporations, they will gradually be replaced with banknotes from the new series. Later on, the Bank of Israel will publish guidelines concerning the replacement of banknotes from Series B.
With the objective of increasing the public’s awareness of the new banknotes’ entry into circulation, and the public’s acquaintance with the security features included in the banknotes, the Bank of Israel will begin a public awareness campaign among the general public, entitled “Easy to check, easy to authenticate”, through media outlets that are accessible to various population groups. Among other things, information flyers and pamphlets will be distributed in five languages through bank branches, the Post office, and various commercial and public entities.
Source: boi
