Thursday, September 12, 2024

The Bibi Files: Documentary Reveals Police Interrogations behind Netanyahu’s Graft Trial

By Al Ahed Staff, Agencies

The Bibi Files: Documentary Reveals Police Interrogations behind Netanyahu’s Graft Trial

FRANCE 24 reviews “The Bibi Files”, a new documentary by filmmakers Alexis Bloom and Alex Gibney, which features thousands of hours of never-before-seen footage of “Israeli” police interrogating “Israeli” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his family and his inner circle on corruption information.

The documentary was screened as a work-in-progress at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival on Monday, hours after a “Jerusalem” court rejected a petition by Netanyahu to block the screening.

A lineup of experts, including former top “Israeli” officials, weaves together scenes of human greed and moral compromise into a comprehensible chronicle.

The police interrogations that are the building blocks of “The Bibi Files” narrative was recorded between 2016 and 2018, and have never been released in “Israel” due to privacy laws.

The experts in the documentary, however, say Netanyahu’s corruption and his determination to avoid justice have compromised “Israel’s” security and destroyed hopes for peace in the Middle East.

The Gaza war has put US ties with “Israel” under the spotlight and “The Bibi Files” provides glimpses of how the “special relationship” between “Israel” and the US works at different levels.

“The Bibi Files” ends with Netanyahu’s July 24 speech to a joint session of the US Congress, when he became the only leader to surpass Winston Churchill’s record of three Congressional speeches.

“The Bibi Files” is unlikely to get an “Israeli” screening since the country’s privacy laws stipulate that audiovisual material can only be publicly released after securing the permission of people being filmed during official proceedings.

As the director, Bloom notes that the film is aimed at international, particularly American, audiences. “Honestly, these stories about Netanyahu are fairly well known in ‘Israel’,” she said. “So many ‘Israelis’ along the way have said to me, ‘You need to get this out to the wider world’.”

Gibney agrees. “We're dealing with a conflagration in the Middle East where people are dying every day. So, to be able to have a platform where you can plant a stake in the ground and also start, you know, serious discussion about Netanyahu and his motives, I think was important,” he said.

“It needs to get out there, and it needs to get out there now.”

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