John Oliver Spotlights the Documentary Benjamin Netanyahu Tried to Ban

In a powerful and meticulously researched episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver turned his focus to Israel and its long-serving Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The segment served as a stark indictment of Netanyahu’s leadership, directly linking his personal political and legal survival to the devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Much of the episode’s foundation, including its most damning evidence, is drawn from a single source: the 2024 documentary ‘The Bibi Files’, a film Netanyahu aggressively, but unsuccessfully, attempted to suppress. Here’s a deep dive into why this documentary is not just a film, but a vital piece of contemporary political journalism.

The Oliver Episode: A Condemnation of Power and Consequences

Oliver’s episode pulls no punches. He frames the current conflict not as an isolated tragedy but as the culmination of Netanyahu’s political career, defined by corruption and alliances with extremists.

• A Scathing Moral Accounting: Oliver stated, “It is impossible to overstate the death and suffering Netanyahu’s decisions have caused,” connecting the PM’s actions directly to the tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths, the thousands of child amputees, and the Israeli hostages whose safety he has allegedly refused to prioritize.

• The Extremist Alliances: The host highlighted Netanyahu’s political pact with figures like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has publicly suggested that starving Palestinians in Gaza could be “just and moral.” This alignment, Oliver argues, is a strategic move to secure his far-right coalition.

• The Central Question: The episode culminates in the essential query: “Just who is Netanyahu really looking out for? Is it the people of Israel, who’ve been put at risk by endless war? Or is it the man who’s spent 17 years as prime minister and seems willing to do whatever it takes to squeeze out a few more?”

This comprehensive takedown seamlessly leads viewers to the deeper exploration offered by The Bibi Files.

‘The Bibi Files’: The Film That Exposes the Man Behind the Crisis

Directed by Alexis Bloom and produced by Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney, The Bibi Files is the explosive cinematic investigation that Netanyahu fought in court to prevent from being released. His legal challenge, based on the use of leaked interrogation footage, was rejected, and the film has since gone on to win the 2025 Political Film of the Year award and is shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

What makes the documentary so revelatory?

1. The Unprecedented Footage: The film’s core is built upon thousands of hours of leaked police interrogation footage from Netanyahu’s corruption trials. This gives viewers a ringside seat to the Prime Minister’s demeanor under pressure—displaying contempt, arrogance, and a recurring insistence that his actions are always for the “good of Israel.”

2. The Web of Corruption, from Cigars to Catastrophe: The Bibi Files masterfully connects seemingly trivial acts of graft to high-stakes politics. It details how Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, solicited and received millions of dollars in luxury gifts—champagne, cigars, jewelry—from wealthy benefactors like Hollywood billionaire Arnon Milchan. The film argues this sense of entitlement and corruption is not a sidebar to his leadership; it is a fundamental aspect of it, creating a moral vacuum where political decisions are made for personal gain.

3. The “Lady Macbeth” and the Heir: The documentary paints a chilling portrait of Netanyahu’s inner circle. His wife, Sara, is depicted as a volatile and insatiable influence, a foul-mouthed power-broker whose demands fuel the corruption. His son, Yair, is shown to hold even more extreme right-wing views, suggesting a political legacy of intransigence.

4. The Central, Damning Thesis: Prolonging War for Political Survival: This is the film’s most critical argument. The Bibi Files posits that Netanyahu’s legal peril is the key to understanding his governance. Facing imprisonment on corruption charges if he loses power, he has a vested interest in perpetual political instability. The film presents compelling evidence that he:

   • Empowered Hamas: Tactically allowed Qatari funds to flow to Hamas to create a divided Palestinian leadership and weaken the moderate Palestinian Authority, believing he could “manage” the threat.

   • Instrumentalizes Conflict: Views endless war as a condition for his political survival. The October 7th attacks, while a horrific intelligence failure, are presented as a catastrophic blowback from this strategy, which he then leveraged to extend his rule and delay his day of legal reckoning.

Beyond Polemic: A Factual and Human-Driven Narrative

What sets The Bibi Files apart is its rigorous, fact-based approach. It is not an apology for Hamas nor does it condone violence. Instead, it is a surgical examination of one leader’s corrosive impact on democracy and security. The film avoids easy caricature by including powerful human moments, such as the testimony of Gili Schwartz, a survivor of the Kibbutz Be’eri attack, who becomes a voice of moral clarity and compassionate outrage, contrasting sharply with the Netanyahu family’s rhetoric.

A Film Banned, But Not Silenced

Despite being banned from official distribution in Israel due to privacy laws, The Bibi Files has been widely pirated and circulated, a testament to its perceived importance within the country itself. Its journey to screens worldwide was also fraught, with major US streamers initially afraid to touch it before platforms like Jolt, Prime Video, and Apple TV made it available.

Conclusion: Essential Viewing for Understanding the Modern Middle East

John Oliver’s episode acts as a perfect primer, but The Bibi Files is the essential text. It connects the dots between a leader’s personal corruption, his desperate grip on power, and the devastating real-world consequences that have led to what international bodies are investigating as potential war crimes and genocide. In a media landscape often dominated by simplified narratives, this documentary offers the uncomfortable, nuanced, and vital truth: that the path to the current crisis in Gaza runs directly through Benjamin Netanyahu’s courtroom and his relentless pursuit of self-preservation. It is, quite simply, a film that speaks truth to power, and its very existence is a victory for accountability.

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