THE BIBI FILES

(DOC NYC, the USA’s largest documentary film festival, runs November 13 through December 1 (in-person and online) for its 15th edition. Check out Chris Reed’s movie review of The Bibi Files. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)

In this third decade of the 21^st century, the world is beset by a resurgence of would-be (and actual) dictators, many of them elected by populations that choose ostensible security over other issues. Strongmen don’t always govern from a position of confidence, however. It’s their insecurities that lead to grotesque overcompensation and the projection of strength. Nevertheless, their power is real, and in The Bibi Files, a new documentary from Alexis Bloom (Divide and Conquer), we see the consequences of one such ruler’s wielding of that power. It is ugly, destructive, and murderous.

Benjamin Netanyahu—aka “Bibi”—is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. A member of the conservative Likud party, he has always leaned to the right. Often, though, he has had to form coalitions with other parties, some of which have moderated his policies, helping him tack to the center (or at least center-right). In 2015, he won a decisive victory in his country’s elections, and that’s when, according to the voices heard in this film, “everything changed.”

After all, even if we live in an age where demagogues love to claim that any and all charges leveled against them are a witch hunt, there’s a reason why Bibi was indicted in 2019 on corruption. As laid out here, he and his wife, Sara, in the wake of the 2015 elections, apparently created a culture of graft and grift, where anyone who wished to do business with Israel—or, rather, anyone who needed special favors—would compensate (via money, goods and/or services) the Netanyahus in some way. Thanks to a leak from the police office, Bloom has access to the tapes of the interrogations that led to the indictment. They prove eye-opening.

Like our very own Donald J. Trump, Netanyahu has learned to never admit any wrongdoing and to deny all accusations and pivot to an attack on those doing the accusing. That’s what we are witness to, time and again. Sara Netanyahu does the same. Their son, Yair, is no different. It’s a family affair.

In addition to these royal pretenders, the documentary features the people who have bribed (via the same interrogation tapes) and former colleagues-turned-witness. Not surprisingly, the latter are branded by the Netanyahus as disgruntled turncoats. Bibi is, after all, Israel’s savior.

Much of this would be comical were the consequences not so grave. After Bibi’s 2019 indictment, the center and left parties banned him from forming coalitions with them, leaving him to reach out to far-right extremists he had previously shunned. Now they are his partners at the top, and despite their claims to guarantee Israel’s safety, death follows in their wake.

Bloom does a great job laying out not only Netanyahu’s full biography—from his early years to the present—but also the role he has himself played in propping up (funding, actually) Hamas, since he believed that it would be in his interest to keep Gaza and the West Bank divided, thereby preventing any kind of Palestinian unity. If that is the case, then does he not, at least in part, share responsibility for the horrific October 7 attacks? He certainly bears the blame for the seemingly indiscriminate killing of Palestinians in retaliation.

There’s a lot to digest in The Bibi Files. Chances are, as with all things these days, how one sees the facts depends on one’s ideology going into it. That’s too bad, since the people laying out the case come from all sides of the political spectrum. It’s like a mirror of our own world in the United States, with only the surface details differing. We can see the future, and it is frightening.

– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)

2024 Doc NYC; Alexis Bloom; The Bibi Files

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