I happened to find this online, and think it's quite interesting. These banknotes did not include any specific people and reflected the socialist/pioneer ethos of the early years of Israel.
1 NIS= 10,000 Lira

The 5 lira one in particular reminds me of what Soviet banknotes may have looked like at the time.

Edited to add: I looked online at Google images and couldn't find any examples that looked similar, but did when Googling images of "soviet worker poster".

Defintely.

And the 1/2 Lira note serves as a reality check of how much Israel has changed.

There use to be a rumor that the scientist on the ten lira note was convicted of spying for the Soviets. I never found out if that is true. Urban legend?