The Bibi Files, a scathing new documentary portrait of Binyamin Netanyahu’s alleged history of receiving backhanders, opens with the Israeli prime minister sitting down with a police interrogator. “A few rules, your honour, the prime minister,” the latter says respectfully.
It’s not a promising start to the wide-ranging criminal investigation conducted between 2016 and 2018 into claims that Netanyahu had accepted gifts from well-heeled wellwishers. (He began testifying in court this week, in what has been called Israel’s “trial of the century”. He has described the three separate corruption cases as “complete lies”.) As one such supporter puts it, “All of Bibi’s friends are rich. What can I say? If this comes out I’m dead.”
When questioned by the police, Arnon Milchan, the Oscar-winning producer of The Revenant and 12 Years a Slave, confesses to several extravagant donations, including cigars, champagne and Tiffany jewels for Netanyahu’s wife, Sara. “I did not personally ask for a ring and a necklace,” she protests before insisting that her husband is “treated like a king” all over the world.
The alleged rot appears to go deep. There are mutterings about positive coverage with one of Israel’s main internet providers, alleged bribes for a submarine contract and questions about political appointments.
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A deep throat lurks behind the scenes. Extensive footage of the police interrogations, running into thousands of hours, was leaked in 2023 to the Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney, a Bibi Files producer. These tapes are supplemented and contextualised by such talking heads as the Israeli former prime minister Ehud Olmert, the investigative journalist Raviv Drucker and the former Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon.
Bibi, as he is known to his wealthy chums, here seems unable to recall anything. The brown-envelope claims may not seem important compared with the deaths of 45,000 Palestinians over the past year. As several commentators note, systemic corruption of the type alleged here creates a need for the fog of permanent warfare.
A swaggering, unapologetic appearance by Yair Netanyahu, the premier’s son and presumed successor, signals a continuation of the family’s legacy.
The Bibi Files is on digital platforms from Friday, December 13th
