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“The Bibi Files,” directed by Alexis Bloom, is an outstanding and necessary film that sheds light on the corruption scandal surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political career. He is right the Bibi Files is much more than that. It tries to delve deeper into the life-altering effects the accusations of bribery and fraud have had on his political identity ever since he was initially charged in 2019.
Netanyahu’s affiliation with the Israeli far-right groups is simply a means to drown in the excuses of the genocide he brought to Gaza. As much as Bloom’s film tries to portray Israeli politics through a far-sided lens, it seems to come to a conclusion that the Israeli President is doing everything he can, willing to commit those war crimes, just to avoid being politically charged with the atrocities that were done against the Palestinians. Instead, they use it as a tool to control other nations. To justify his presidency for the remainder of the war and muster allowing the slaughter of countless innocent children. To the point that it becomes the only thing that serves as his reason to remain in power and control Israeli politics.
Accusation is often regarded as serious, especially when it concerns national leaders. Richard Nixon was kicked out because of a wide variety of crimes. Ronald Reagan presided over the Iran-Contra scandal which, in my opinion, was worse than Watergate. Donald Trump’s stopped being charged with crimes ranging from interfering in elections to sexual assault. So, when you hear about the scandal that has consumed Netanyahu, it may appear, at first, insipid. He’s accused of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust that stem out of gifts that he’s received. This is indicative of a pattern of sponging where Tycoons showered Bibi and their wife Sara with Cohiba cigars, champagne flows, and expensive jewelry.
The reason this may, at first, come off as trivial is that national leaders tend to have perks and enjoy living in excess. For instance, several U.S. presidents, John F. Kennedy onwards, had no problem smoking Cuban cigars and no questions were spent looking for where they came from.
However, Israel is like no other country. It continues to be a nation that is spiritually barren nearly seventy-six years after its birth. From the very start, it was organized and run by the concepts of socialism that define the kibbutz. What stands out is how the life of Netanyahu has grown larger than life ever since he became the Prime Minister. For him, it has become a question of wealth. He and Sara travel like royals, especially when they visit places like the White House. They want that kind of treatment everywhere they go, and have grown to expect it. Journalist Raviv Drucker from Israel, who is one of the producers of the film, claimed that Netanyahu has ‘sugar daddies’ all over, and that is his source of wealth.
In Israel, the acceptance of gifts like these is seen as an important offense. This is especially true when there is evidence that favors were returned, such as with the tax law that Netanyahu was alleged to have broken for his Israeli friend in Hollywood, Arnon Milchan. Lesser scandals, like this one, have ended the careers of many of Israel’s politicians. But as “The Bibi Files” delineates, Netanyahu has become the longest-serving Prime Minister since Israel’s founding, and in doing so, he has developed a messianic tendency. He thinks he has become the State itself, not just a representative of it. He thinks he is untouchable and that he gets to enjoy the reward for his actions.
The film intertwines deep politics with a true crime drama in a way few documentarians even dare attempt. It opens up like an interrogation with the most important political voices, figures like Netanyahu himself and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, being relentlessly grilled by a journalist. This is made particularly gripping by the detective-like cutaways to reluctant witnesses being interrogated in a B-roll-like fashion as the most antagonistic things about them come to light. Bibi is shown as a Shakespearean character with his Office serving as a stage. The manic Israeli flag represents his persona while the document shredder serves as a metaphor for his desperate attempts at hiding his crimes. You almost feel bad for the man. However, it becomes increasingly hard to pity him when you see the world that once ruled over him. They are wild, ruthless and utterly bloodthirsty. The way in which he deflects all the responsibility is astonishing and entirely believable at the same time. Bibi brings out all of his set pieces and absolutely shreds the audience into pieces, instantly turning him into a single one of the marvelous men turned monsters.
During the interrogations, his persona is of someone who is self-righteous, and carefully constructed. His strategy is to block out all memories and information, so that his one and only response is, “I do not recall.” The film claims that he responds with that phrase for 95 percent of the questions. But it is not just denial. Netanyahu possesses a more sophisticated technique of gassing the police interviewers by counter-mentally assaulting them in a way that appears to be self-righteous. He will let out, “That is ridiculous!” and “You Are Out Of Your Mind!” as he is being played tape recordings of witnesses giving details of his illegal deeds, such as facilitating two hundred and fifty million dollars worth of bank loans for the Israeli cell phone tycoon Shaul Elovitch only to later gain control of a well-known political youth website. He then singularly claims, “Lies! All Lies,” as a way to respond and greet the evidence brought to him. He nears the point of convincing you that there is a portion of him that truly believes it. There he will constantly remain fuming, boldly slamming his palm on the table, pleading mockery of the accusations leveled against him, and claiming the injustice he is a victim of. It is all for show. However, Netanyahu, similar to Trump, Al Pacino, or any other great actor, puts on an extraordinary performance. The beauty that lies within his ability to shamelessly play such a character is rather captivating.
He should have stepped down in 2019 when he was indicted, which his lawyer recommended as well. But Bibi defied and did not resign. According to former PM Olmert, “He is challenging the system. He said, ‘No, I am above, I am beyond. No one can touch me.’” What happened next was the center-left parties of the Knesset decided to impose a ban on him and that resulted in Netanyahu, out of sheer survival, needing to align to the far right and allying with people such as Bezalel Smotrich, who staunchly supported anti-Palestinian violence, and Itmar Ben-Gvir, who openly rejoices in the murder of Yitzhak Rabin. By associating with these people, alongside whom he refused to get photographed with just a few years back, Netanyahu formed the most extreme right-wing government in Israel’s political history.
In the documentary that we are watching, there is heavy support for the notion that Netanyahu is, in fact, lying to us. Even when it comes to understanding military strategy, saying that he does everything to target Hamas is fundamentally wrong, especially since so many people are against him for using such a militant stance. Even his supporters claim that destroying Hamas entirely is impossible, and rather illogical. This sharp schism only makes sense when one examines the charges of corruption Netanyahu faces. Such extreme actions that enable Israel to suffer greatly in the eyes of the global order can only come from the necessity to orchestrate a ‘dire’ war across Palestine that has no end. You might even try to extract a twisted correlation between Bibi smoking Cohiba cigars after the election of Trump, particularly with how much power you believe the Gaza war in question interfered with the American presidential elections. It is clear that the conflict directly impacted the favor Kamala Harris received from Arab Americans or younger voters.
Alexis Bloom, an accomplished filmmaker, is the one behind “Catching Fire The Story of Anita Pallenberg” and “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes”. She understands how to pace an investigation into the proliferation of power. Bloom undertakes her own investigation and goes back and charts Netanyahu’s biography His older brother who both commanded and perished in the ‘raid on Entebbe,’ which was Israel’s audacious rescue operation at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport to save hostages taken from an Israeli airliner. He was like the family’s Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., and Bibi blitzed his career on the back of his brother’s heroism. And of course, that amazing skill of Israeli spokesmanship that Netanyahu possessed. I remember him speaking on Nightline. His cut-and-thrust articulation was remarkably stylish as always.
When asked, experts often note that the Israeli military was caught completely unprepared on the 7th of October because they were under the impression that Israel had become untouchable. His claim of being needed by a nation under his desperate nationalist regime is powerful on paper, but difficult to swallow in real life. If Israel is indeed the military strength superpower it tends to advertise itself as then surely their citizens have every right to expect a more polished Zion than they currently receive. To refer their dismay at the reality Israelis face to the concept of panic is far too simplistic, but it would certainly make a case for collapse within Zionist imagination.
Just like other leaders, Netanyahu uses war to maintain power. In the film, Moretti will probably end up in prison anyway. “He has been charged with, among other things, fabricating phone interview transcripts.” The reason “The Bibi Files” is an important documentary, is because it integrates how Benjamin Netanyahu structured Israel into his own figure, in the same way Trump has done and is trying to do with America. He had led the country with a vision of destruction, and in Bibi’s case, while everyone ended up being a victim of the Gaza war, Israel is also suffering.
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