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Central bank workers gagged
By Moti Bassok
The director general of the Bank of Israel, Yaakov Danon, sent a letter Sunday to the bank’s employees threatening them with dismissal if they speak to reporters.
Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer instructed Danon to write the letter.
The letter prohibits all bank employees from passing on to any unauthorized individuals any information received by the workers within the scope of their employment, without the express permission of the governor of the bank or another individual authorized by the governor.
The bank has always been considered less open to the media than other financial institutions, and less transparent than the Finance or the Industry and Trade Ministries, but this week’s letter sets a record. Danon, who began working at the bank in 2005, was at first open to the media but recently began conforming to the bank’s culture of silence.