The longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases. He is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigars and champagne from a billionaire Hollywood producer in exchange for assistance with personal and business interests, and of promoting advantageous regulations for media moguls in exchange for favorable coverage.
In the leaked police videos, the 75-year-old leader sits at his desk in a surprisingly cramped office, a map of the region behind him. He expresses outrage at the proceedings, calls witnesses liars, and notes he has much weightier matters to attend to. At one point, asked about numbers of champagne bottles, he says he spends his time counting missiles threatening Israel, not bottles. Frequently, his answer is he doesn’t remember.
“We have a number of people on the record telling us what a great memory he has,” says Gibney. “And almost every question that could be possibly incriminating, he says ‘I can’t recall.’”
Reviews in Israeli media for “The Bibi Files” have mostly been positive, while noting that Netanyahu is portrayed in a harsh light. Not surprisingly, public reaction reflects longstanding divisions over the polarizing leader. He and his supporters say he’s the subject of a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media and biased justice system out to topple his rule.
“Netanyahu’s opponents will swear by the film and will only become more convinced that he is corrupt, dizzy with power and leading us to destruction,” Nir Wolf, TV critic for the Netanyahu-friendly Israel Hayom paper, wrote. “His supporters will want to embrace him more.”
Netanyahu has also noticed the film. In September, his lawyer asked the country’s attorney general to investigate Drucker, who is a co-producer with Gibney, accusing him of trying to influence the legal proceedings. No investigation has been launched. (In the film, Drucker notes that Netanyahu has previously sued him three times.)
The film, which intersperses police footage with commentary from former officials, Netanyahu associates, journalists and other analysts — including, frequently, Drucker — begins with the prime minister sitting for his first interview.
“With Netanyahu, nothing concentrates his mind more than the sound of the prison gate slammed behind his back,” comments Nimrod Novik, a former adviser to late Prime Minister Shimon Peres. One of Gibney and Bloom’s key arguments will be that Netanyahu’s fear of potential prison time has influenced his policy decisions — from judicial reform to war.
Netanyahu appears indignant throughout. “You’re asking me delusional questions,” he tells his questioners. “This is preposterous and insane.”
In other footage, Arnon Milchan, the billionaire Hollywood mogul, Netanyahu friend and, more recently, prosecution witness, describes delivering fancy pink champagne on demand for Sara Netanyahu, sometimes toting a cooler himself, as part of an alleged gifts-for-favors scheme. Elsewhere, Sara Netanyahu sits for questioning herself. “How are you not ashamed of yourselves?” she sharply admonishes the interviewers. She tells them that outside Israel, her husband is justly received as a king.