On Monday, hours before its screening in Canada, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu submitted a request to the Jerusalem District Court to hold an urgent hearing to ban the release of the documentary "The Bibi Files" in Israel, given the intention to include audio or video footage from the investigations into several corruption cases against him. Netayahu's request was rejected and the prosecutor's office will respond later this week.
Hours after the screening of the film "The Bibi Files" in Toronto on Monday evening, clips from the film were leaked on the Telegram social network on Tuesday, showing recordings of the investigation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara. The film is not allowed to be shown in Israel, where the law requires court approval in order to publish recordings from an investigation.
In one of the leaked segments, the prime minister can be seen talking to investigators in his office and is furious after being asked a question. "These liars, liars! They lie with confidence! They say things that didn't happen, that I instructed them. Suddenly I hear 'conspiracy', then they said 'no conspiracy'. I don't know what it is! I don't know what it is," said Netanyahu angrily while banging on the table.
In another leaked segment, one of the interrogators asked Netanyahu about a case to which the prime minister responds "I can't remember anything specific." The leaked videos of Sara Netayahu's interrogation show her saying: "Everything you do, they don't know anything. You said this and shouted this and did this and did this. They are slaughtering me."
The new documentary, directed by Alexis Bloom and produced by Oscar winner Alex Gibney, "The Bibi Files," featuring never-before-seen footage of the Israeli police interrogations that led to Netanyahu’s indictment in November 2019 on corruption charges, was screened in the 2024 Toronto Film Festival. Before the screening of the film, thousands joined a Telegram group, where they promised to publish the film in its entirety. However, the group organizers received legal advice against doing so.
According to the former prime minister's adviser Nir Hefetz and other interviewees, Sara Netanyahu's public involvement is too great and even dangerous. "I think Bibi is afraid of her," claims one of the interviewees, and is supported by the video testimony of Netanyahu's close ally Sheldon Adelson, the late billionaire, who said: "It would be good for the State of Israel if she stopped poking her nose into her husband's political affairs. To be honest with you, I don't think we will continue the relationship with them."
The film also claims that Yair Netanyahu's growing involvement in state affairs is also becoming dangerous. He is described as a man addicted to the media and with an extreme right-wing ideology who sees his father as a weak man.
According to Hefetz, a key witness in one of the Netanyahu cases, in which he is accused of trading benefits with businessman Shaul Elovitz in exchange for favorable coverage on the "Walla" website. "The 2015 elections are his greatest victory, and also the beginning of his decline." The creators claim that Netanyahu's self-confidence, greed and desire for power reached their peak and were expressed in this case.
In her investigation, Sara Netanyahu says that she was subjected to a "tsunami" by the media, while Netanyahu complained about his coverage on the Walla news website, which he called "Walla Hamas." When he hears Hefetz's recorded testimony on the subject, he angrily bangs on the table several times and calls out "liar, liar". He repeats and unequivocally denies that he or members of his family contacted Bezeq and Walla owner Shaul Elovitch in order to influence Walla's coverage of the prime minister and his family. However, Yair Netanyahu actually contradicts his statements in his investigation when he explains that since he had to "fix" the coverage of the site's left-wing editors, his references went directly to the owner.