A special committee headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Harel Locker, has recommended a three-phase plan to all but do away with cash transactions in Israel.

The Cabinet on Tuesday, 13 Tishrei 5774, unanimously approved the establishment of a team to evaluate reducing the use of cash. The team, to be chaired by Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Harel Locker, has been authorized to formulate an outline on a policy for reducing and restricting the use of cash as a means of payment in the Israeli economy.............
According to data presented to the cabinet by the Bank of Israel, the public is naturally moving toward using electronic means and there is a need to oversee the process in order to verify that it is being carried out properly. In the world this is known as a cashless society.

But paper money is a 19th-century technology that has barely changed in 15 decades. Since the mid-1990s, cash has been in decline, according to a Federal Reserve estimate.

It now faces stiff competition not only from credit cards but also from smartphones that promise businesses a way to advertise to customers before they pay or to offer them coupons, sort of like printing a little ad next to George Washington's face or bumping up the value of a dollar bill to a dollar and 15 cents.

"The mobile device becomes a new marketing channel for merchants to use," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the industry group the Smart Card Alliance.