Netanyahu demands criminal investigation into 'Bibi Files' leak

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded in a letter on Sunday that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levi open a criminal investigation into the leaks of video footage of interrogations of the prime minister, his family, and other witnesses, which aired for the first time in the documentary "The Bibi Files" at the Toronto International Film Festival last week.

The letter was attached to a filing by the prime minister’s legal team in Netanyahu’s corruption cases, requesting that the footage be placed under a gag order. The filing was directed to Channel 13 reporter Raviv Drucker, who was listed as a member of the documentary’s production team.

Publishing video or audio footage that is being used as evidence in a criminal trial is illegal in Israel. However, since the film was released in Toronto and will not be aired in Israel on any platform, the legal application of the request for a gag order is unclear.

Netanyahu’s lawyers, however, argued in the letter that Drucker’s participation in the film’s production, while knowing that the content of the film was illegal for publication in Israel, constituted a criminal offense. Drucker argued in the defense of his own filing that he had no control over publishing decisions made by director Alex Gibney and that his participation amounted to helping set up interviews in Israel and sitting for an interview himself.

The footage includes police interrogations of the prime minister, his wife Sara, son Yair, friends and confidantes of the prime minister, and past members of his housekeeping staff, which were conducted between 2016 and 2018, and leaked to producer Alex Gibney in 2023.

Netanyahu does not recall 

In the footage, viewers reported that Netanyahu claimed he did not remember the events presented before him. In another segment, Sara was seen verbally attacking police investigators, accusing them of dealing with “bastards” and “trying to topple the prime minister.”

Other than Drucker himself, the documentary includes interviews of former prime minister Ehud Olmert, former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Ami Ayalon, former Netanyahu communications adviser, and a key witness in one of the cases, Nir Hefetz, and more.

Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases known as 1000, 2000, and 4,000. All three charges are for fraud and breach of trust, while 4,000 also includes a bribery charge.