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1,000,000 Pounds Exchanged for Israeli Currency Within Few Hours

August 18, 1948
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More than 1,000,000 Palestine pound a were exchanged for new Israeli currency less than four hours after the new money was put into circulation today, it was announced here.

The State Council last night unanimously approved the new Israeli currency bill introduced by Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan. After the measure was adopted, Premier David Ben Gurion asserted that “Israel today established, its monetary independence,”

“It should be clear, however,” Ben Gurion warned, “that monetary independence is ultimately contingent upon economic independence. Such economic independence means large ‘imports’ of Jews to Israel and large exports of goods from Israel. The stablest guarantee to the new Israeli currency would be provided not by a formal act of state, but by the constant increase of our strength,” he added.

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