In fly-on-the-wall documentary Bibi filesIsraeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, known as Bibi, seems to be being grilled for hours by the Israeli police about the corruption allegations he is facing now. Footage of his interrogation was interspersed with police interviews with wealthy associates, including Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who complained about the prime minister and his wife demanding expensive gifts.
But beyond its appeal, the film reveals that Netanyahu’s actions—from his collaboration with the far-right wing of Israeli politics to upending the country’s justice system to prolonging the ongoing war in Gaza—can all be traced back to his own. attempts to avoid the charges against them. “The engine is corruption cases,” said Raviv Drucker, an Israeli investigative journalist at the beginning of Bibi fileswhich he produced jointly. “And it all started with the fact that the prime minister does not respect the law…After the tragedy of October 7, the war became another tool to continue ruling.”
Netanyahu has strongly denied the corruption charges – most recently at the trial, where he testified for the first time on Tuesday, calling them “absolute lies.” The leader of the Likud Party said the judicial reform law does not affect his criminal case, and insisted that the war in Gaza was only extended in an effort to eliminate Hamas as a threat. “This canard, this story that I am escalating the war is a lie,” Netanyahu told TIME in an interview in August. “My case has dragged on for three years. It is completely independent of what is happening outside.”
Continue reading: Netanyahu at War
TIME caught up with director Alexis Bloom, whose previous projects include Divide and Conquer: The Roger Ailes Story again We Steal Secrets: The WikiLeaks Storyto discuss how the film came together, Netanyahu’s failed attempts to block its worldwide release (the film is banned from showing in Israel under the country’s privacy laws), and the impact he hopes it will have when it’s released on Dec. 11. The discussion has been edited and condensed for clarity.
TIME: Can you talk a little bit about how this film came together? Did it all start with a leaked interrogation video?
BLOOM: Yes, quiz videos have been leaked [producer] Alex Gibney in the spring of 2023. Someone came to him on Signal and said, “I have some interesting stuff. Would you like to watch it?” Alex, because of his long career in investigative journalism, gets many people to contact him. Some of them are legal and some are not, but thankfully he is still pulling the strings. He came to me in the summer of 2023 and said, “We have these facilities. I’m not entirely sure of the scope of it all. I know some people there,” meaning Benjamin, his wife Sara, and those inside. “Are you interested in looking at the materials, trying to make sense of them, and let’s try to make a film together.”
At the time, were you following the situation in Israel—corruption charges hanging against Netanyahu, protests over controversial justice reforms?
I wasn’t in Israel for a long time, so I wasn’t there when the Supreme Court protests happened, but I followed them on the news. I always thought of it as kind of a big setback, too [Netanyahu’s] the alliance with the extreme privilege was notable, even before the date of Oct. 7.
The film covers Netanyahu’s rise to power with his legalistic stance, which as the film marks the day. since 1997. How important was it to include context about his family history and his political background?
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go into his history at length. It has become a two-hour film and a commitment. The important part of the biography revolved around Yoni Netanyahu, his brother, and his brother’s death and the presentation of Netanyahu’s career as “Mr. Security,” as an anti-terrorism specialist, was important to include because it has a direct connection with today; and Netanyahu saying, “I am the only one who can protect Israel,” which I find very ironic now, considering how dangerous Israel is for a Jewish person.
Both the prime minister’s wife, Sara, and their eldest son, Yair, played major roles in the corruption scandal. How important are they to this story?
I wouldn’t have included the family if it wasn’t so politically important. They are important in terms of who gets appointed, who doesn’t, and what Benjamin Netanyahu’s priorities are and how he conducts himself in government. They are not chosen, but they have a lot of power, and that is well known in Israel. I find that in all the documentaries that are made about Bibi in the current news, he is talked about as a single leader—and he is not. He is a free, involved, engaged family man.
As far as corruption cases are concerned, both are very important in different ways. Sara is important to Case 1000, which includes jewelry, cigarettes and champagne, worth $200,000, because most of these goods [allegedly] he went to him. And Yair is very important to Case 4000, where there is [allegedly] quid pro quo between Benjamin and Shaul Elovitch, head of a major telecommunications company in Israel, and Yair [said to be] the person who tells Benjamin Netanyahu what was being released on this website called Wallathe family that eventually took control.
The situation with Wallaand the sensitivity of the Netanyahu family regarding the way they are widely portrayed in the press, is one of the important areas of the film. Recently, the Israeli government penalties imposed in the oldest newspaper in the country, Haaretzabout its critical story on the war in Gaza and comments from the publisher of this newspaper. What do these measures tell us about how Netanyahu thinks about the media?
Netanyahu wants to control the message. He is passionate about the media, and so is his wife. No one in Israel can say otherwise. … When you see his entry into the world stage [as spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington]it’s the media. He does not campaign at grassroots level. He campaigns using his perfect English with his baritone voice and good looks. That’s how he became famous. So the genesis of Netanyahu can be seen through this lens. You are a player. He’s a master at acting, and incredibly sensitive to inclusion, which is why we felt it was important to include this story about him Walla. When we showed our film as a work in progress in Toronto, he immediately went to court to try to stop it.
At the moment, it’s a very dangerous place to be an Israeli journalist who disagrees with Netanyahu. Netanyahu asked the police to open an investigation into Raviv Drucker, who is the protagonist of our film. Raviv was accused by Netanyahu before, but now [right-wing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir is the head of the police, so the danger is great. Apart from Haaretzthey are trying to eliminate any criticism of the current government in the press in Israel.
The film captures Netanyahu’s performance art. But it also shows its limits—especially in the scene where he repeats the phrase “I don’t remember” ad nauseum to the interrogators. How many hours of footage did you have to sift through to create that?
The “I Don’t Remember” series was three times as long for many years. People were begging me to cut it. I was saying, we should make the audience as uncomfortable as the police investigators should have been with his denial. I was forced by the strong tension of my editor to reduce it.
We have over 1,000 hours of video. We are a small group, and we couldn’t watch it all. I quickly had to identify the charges that ended up being brought against them and correct the others. There were a lot of other investigations and a lot of other things that the investigators were talking to people about—I couldn’t watch it all.
The film will not be shown in Israel due to privacy laws. What impact do you hope it will have on the country, even if those are limitations? I know it is covered by the Israeli media.
This film has already been consumed by many people in Israel. It’s like wildfire. It is passed on WhatsApp chats between people, because everyone in Israel uses WhatsApp. My colleagues let me know when they have been sent a message that says, “You want to see.” Bibi files?”
I mean, people really want to watch it. We have done nothing to promote it—for legal reasons, we never will. But we did one social experiment online which was a private social experiment. I think someone must have recorded that. Digital information is like water—it just flows.
Sometimes links to it come from X or other forums. How hard is it to remove private links?
You should hire a digital security company. We had no money for any of this, at first. People have asked me, “Did you get a lot of money for this?” I’m like, on the contrary. We have been red. And thankfully, just before Thanksgiving, an anonymous donor gave us money to help these people take down the links. So I cannot emphasize enough how small and small our party is, which makes me very happy, actually, because it is a different type of Netanyahu and his program. We are young and strong. We try to be.
Is it fair to say that all the interest in this film, ironically, cost you?
We want the film to transcend the general audience. There is a big difference between its widespread spoofing in Israel and non-Jewish New Yorkers watching it. I want everyone who likes politics—anyone who likes corruption, politics, international affairs—to watch it. It has relevance to Trump. The challenge for us now will be to push and come out in the open.
What does that process look like?
We’re already open in LA with an Oscar qualifying run at Laemmle in Santa Monica for a week. We open all week at IFC in New York City. And then on Jolt.film in the US and Canada, to go online, pay your fee—currently $18, but it will be $12—and watch the movie, no registration required. So it’s a very low-key, democratic way to watch a movie. We don’t have a big broadcaster behind us. … Broadcasters found it too controversial to broadcast. They don’t want to talk about Israel and Palestine with any repetition. There is a great movie called “No Other World” wins awards. It’s a good movie, but it wasn’t broadcast [the U.S.]. Why not?
That’s surprising, given how high-profile your story is—and especially considering that your film is less about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than other recent films like “No Other Country” and “Teacher” and more about the corruption scandal surrounding Netanyahu.
It’s a simple, straightforward film about the corruption of one family and it doesn’t go into the controversial area of what to do after he leaves or the participation of the Israeli community at large or any of those issues. Therefore, my hope is that anyone who is against corruption, who will stand up and say that corruption in our leaders is not a good thing, can watch this film.
The film ends with something because the story of corruption is not over. Netanyahu has used the war as an excuse to postpone his trial, so it’s anyone’s guess when it will come to an end. Do you have plans to revisit the story once it’s available?
We have no plans to run it officially in the film. You need funding in place and a backer and all that, so there’s some practical considerations before you commit to creating another film, part two. But personally and professionally, I still follow the story, completely.
Did the Netanyahu family reach out to you or your team directly?
We have not heard from the Netanyahus. We requested an interview. Unsurprisingly, we didn’t get it.
What impact do you hope for outside of Israel?
It would be very helpful for the international community to understand that Netanyahu is not Israel and that criticizing Netanyahu is the right thing to do. It is not anti-Semitic and it is not anti-Israel to criticize him.
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