The Bibi Files contains leaked footage of the Israeli PM being interrogated by police over allegations of corruption – and argues that these are partly why he has taken the region into the abyss. We meet the journalist behind it
The Bibi Files, a new documentary, begins with its eponymous antihero, Benjamin Netanyahu, being read his rights by police interrogators. His oblong, jowled face is well known – Netanyahu has been Israel’s prime minister for a total of 17 years – but we are accustomed to seeing him in charge of events, behind a lectern haranguing his country and the world beyond. We have never seen him like this.
Late last year, videos of police questioning of Netanyahu, his family, his rich backers and his disillusioned aides were leaked to Alex Gibney, an Oscar-winning American documentary maker and one of the producers of The Bibi Files. The tapes were recorded between 2016 and 2018 and appear for the first time in The Bibi Files, which premiered at festivals in Toronto and New York but still cannot be viewed in Israel.
From the outset, we see Netanyahu literally backed into a corner, behind his desk, fending off a barrage of questions about lavish gifts which the police claim he received in return for favours, and about political favours that they claim were bestowed in return for flattering news coverage.
The leaked tapes themselves are compelling, but the director, Alexis Bloom, seeks to go further. The Bibi Files appears to draw a bright, bold, causal line between Netanyahu’s 2019 corruption indictment and the current state of the region. Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, alleging he is the victim of a politically motivated witch-hunt orchestrated by liberal media and a biased justice system, and he formally pleaded not guilty in a trial which has now continued, off and on, since 2020. However, the film argues that the trial is part of the reason a desperate Netanyahu took his country and the surrounding region into the abyss. Netanyahu has said throughout the war that he is motivated by the need to reestablish Israel’s security.
Raviv Drucker, an Israeli television journalist and co–producer of The Bibi Files, has devoted much of his career to investigating allegations of corruption surrounding Netanyahu and his family. He says he always operated on the assumption that no one should be above the law, but now swears that, if he had known where Netanyahu would lead the country, he would rather the prime minister had never been indicted….
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/dec/02/benjamin-netanyahu-bibi-files-israeli-corruption
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