Israeli currency 20 New Sheqalim banknote 1999 Bank of Israel
Latent image: A triangle in the right-hand corner.
Sign for the blind: Two vertical lines in intaglio ink at the top left of the note.
Denomination: In the top right-hand corner in numbers, in Hebrew and with the words "Bank of Israel"; and in the bottom left-hand corner in metallic gold.
Watermark: Portrait of Sharett and a small circle beneath it enclosing the initial of his surname (in Hebrew).
Security thread: Threaded through the paper below the middle of the note.
Reverse: Picture of Jewish Brigade volunteers during WW II and of a pre-State look-out tower; text from Sharett's radio address after his return from a visit to the Jewish Brigade in Italy.
Microtext: To the right of the main text with titles of seven books written by Moshe Sharett.
Denomination: In numbers with the words "New Sheqalim" and "Bank of Israel"; in iridescent ink and in Arabic characters.
Optical Variable Ink: A triangle composed of small squares, with the apex pointing to the right.
See-through: A small triangle printed on either side of the note; the two triangles form a precise Star of David.
Serial numbers: Once in olive-green and once in black which reflects UV light.
Designers: Naomi Rosner and Meir Eshel.
Date of Issue: January 3, 1999.
Size: 138 X 71 mm.
Dominant colour: Green.
Israel Banknotes - Israel Paper Money
Second Series of the New Sheqel
The second series includes improved security features against forgery. The new banknotes share similar design elements and all have uniform security features. The personages on the second series of NIS notes are those who featured on the same denominations of the first NIS series. The notes are designed vertically, and all denominations are uniform in size: 138 mm x 71 mm. The second series was designed by Naomi Rosner and Meir Eshel.
20 New Sheqalim 50 New Sheqalim 100 New Sheqalim 200 New Sheqalim
Moshe Sharett
Moshe Sharett (born Moshe Shertok 16 October 1894 – 7 July 1965) was the second Prime Minister of Israel (1954–55), serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurion's two terms.
Born in Kherson in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Sharett emigrated to Ottoman-controlled Palestine in 1906. In 1910 his family moved to Jaffa, and they became one of the founding families of Tel Aviv.
He graduated from the first class of the Herzliya Hebrew High School, even studying music at the Shulamit Conservatory. He then went off to Istanbul to study law at Istanbul University, the same university at which Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and David Ben-Gurion studied. However, his time there was cut short due to the outbreak of World War I. He subsequently served as a First Lieutenant in the Ottoman Army, as an interpreter.
After the war, he worked as an Arab affairs and land purchase agent for the Assembly of Representatives of the Yishuv. He also became a member of Ahdut Ha'Avoda, and later of Mapai.
In 1922 he went to the London School of Economics, and while there he actively edited the Workers of Zion. He then worked on the Davar newspaper from 1925 until 1931.
In 1931, after returning to Palestine, he became the secretary of the Jewish Agency's political department. After the assassination of Haim Arlosoroff in 1933 he became its head, and he held that position until the formation of Israel in 1948.
Sharett was one of the signatories of Israel's Declaration of Independence. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he was Foreign Minister for the Provisional Government of Israel. He was elected to the Knesset in the first Israeli election in 1949, and served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this role he established diplomatic relations with many nations, and helped to bring about Israel's admission to the UN. He held this role until 1956.
In the debate on how to deal with the increasing infiltration of fedayeen across the borders in the years leading to the 1956 Suez Crisis, Sharett was skeptical of the reprisal operations being carried out by the Israeli military.
Sharrett met with Pius XII in 1952 in an attempt to improve relations with the Holy See, although this was to no avail.
In December 1953 David Ben-Gurion retired from politics (temporarily as it turned out), and Sharett was chosen by the party to take his place. During his time as Prime Minister the Arab-Israeli conflict intensified, particularly with the Egypt of Nasser and the Lavon Affair occurred, resulting in the resignation of Pinhas Lavon, the Defense Minister. As a result David Ben-Gurion returned to the government as Defense Minister. At the next elections Ben-Gurion replaced Sharett as head of the list and became prime minister.
After stepping down as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sharett retired. During his retirement he became chairman of Am Oved publishing house, Chairman of Beit Berl College, and Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency. He died in 1965 in Jerusalem and was buried in Tel Aviv's Trumpeldor Cemetery.
Sharett's personal diaries, first published by his son Yaakov in 1978, have proved to be an important source for Israeli history. In 2007, the Moshe Sharett Heritage Society, the foundation that Yaakov established to care for Sharett's legacy, discovered a file of thousands of passages that had been omitted from the published edition. They included "shocking revelations" about the defense minister Pinhas Lavon. A new edition was published that was complete apart from a few words still classified.
Many cities have streets and neighborhoods named after him.
Since 1987, Sharett has appeared on the 20 NIS bills. The bill first featured Sharett, with the names of his books in small print, and with a small image of him presenting the Israeli flag to the United Nations in 1949. On the back of the bill, there was an image of the Herzliya Hebrew High School, from which he graduated.
In 1998 the bill went through a graphic revision, the list of Sharett's books on the front side was replaced by part of Sharett's 1949 speech in the UN. The back side now features an image of Jewish Brigade volunteers, part of a speech by Sharett on the radio after visiting the Brigade in Italy, and the list of his books in small print.