Documentary ‘The Bibi Files’ was screened at the ongoing edition of the Toronto International Film Festival after a court in Jerusalem rejected a petition by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to block the screening of the documentary.
The documentary was made after piecing together thousands of hours of leaked footage which included several police interrogations that were recorded between 2016 and 2018 leading to Netanyahu’s indictment in November 2019 on corruption charges.
The leaked footage was never released in Israel due to the country’s Privacy Laws.
The directors of ‘The Bibi Files’ – Alexis Bloom and Alex Gibney – were able to get the leaked footage in early 2023 much before the Hamas attack on Isreal on October 7.
“Around the time Netanyahu was trying to change the role of the judiciary in Israel, it appeared to me that he was trying to elude the prosecution against him. So, it was something larger than just a record of the questioning about the trial,” Alex Gibney told France 24.
The Israeli PM’s ongoing corruption trial involves three cases, listed as 1,000, 2,000 and 4,000. Case 1,000 involves alleged bribery and breach of trust over expensive gifts to Netanyahu and his wife by Israeli Hollywood billionaire Arnon Milchan and Australian tycoon James Packer in return for alleged political favours.
Case 2,000 involves negotiating in favour of the owner of the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth against a rival newspaper, allegedly in exchange for favourable coverage.
Case 4,000 also pertains to alleged bribery and breach of trust over a “reciprocal deal” for positive media coverage, this time with the then-owner of the popular Walla news site.
Netanyahu has maintained that all the allegations against him are baseless and an attempt by his rivals to persecute him and his family.