An Israeli court has now officially rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempt to block a documentary about his legal troubles, from a screening at a Canadian film festival. Before I get to the details, Jordan, I'm going to bring you in right away. [00:00:18] How exactly would an Israeli court ban a film from being played at a Canadian film festival? - That's kind of strange. - No. That is a great question. That's a great question. [00:00:33] As I was reading it, I thought I missed a detail because that should not even be considered. That shouldn't be a question. But here he is, the representative and the leader of the the only democracy [00:00:48] in the Middle East. So we're told it's it's really wild. There's so much more to this. I know you're going to get to it, but I just it's ludicrous. It is, it is. And look, unfortunately, the film isn't available. It hasn't been widely released yet. I can't wait to see it. [00:01:03] We even looked for a trailer, but we were unable to find one. However, let's talk about why Netanyahu would want to censor this film to begin with. So the film makes the case that Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza, which has, In order to basically avoid we've been talking about this, [00:01:23] possible prison time stemming from a corruption situation that he's, being prosecuted for. Right. So he's facing corruption charges. The film The Bibi Files contains video clips documenting Netanyahu, his wife Sara, and his son Yair during police interrogations between 2016 and 2018 [00:01:45] that sought to examine whether Netanyahu was involved in the corruption offenses attributed to him. So offenses that, to be clear, he categorically denies committing. But if you believe anything coming out of Netanyahu's mouth, I have a bridge to sell you. [00:02:01] So he's accused of allegedly granting favors to the media media moguls, specifically in exchange for gifts and favorable media coverage. So the footage includes the prime minister addressing allegations that he and his wife accepted expensive champagne, Cuban cigars and jewelry [00:02:21] from the Hollywood producer Arnon. I'm going to say Milken. Netanyahu is heard minimizing the champagne and cigars as simply gifts from a friend while denying knowledge of the jewelry. Okay. [00:02:38] Look, it's probably because I'm not a fan of cigars or champagne. So, like, the idea of, like, accepting those gifts and then doing major favors for people is, like, laughable to me. But politicians tend to love that kind of stuff. And I'm sure his wife loved the jewelry, too. And it doesn't surprise me that, favors were traded for these types of goods. [00:02:58] And what's amazing is I got to be honest, like, as you read those details, Jordan, you kind of reflect on the legalized bribery that we have in the United States. And like the in some cases, tens of millions, hundreds of millions [00:03:14] of dollars one major donor provides for a political party or a campaign. And it kind of makes this look like child's play, but it looks like they have better laws in Israel as it pertains to corruption. Hey, don't scroll away, come back, come back. Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you [00:03:32] to lend your support to TYT. You power our honest reporting. You do it at tyt.com/team and we love you for it. It does. And I think to go back to your first point, him prolonging the war to avoid punishment really speaks to how evil and self-serving he is. [00:03:52] And I know this network has done probably better than anybody else pointing that out, covering it. But I also want to on the documentary thing It is the only reason I now know about this documentary is because he tried to get again a Canadian film festival from showing it, [00:04:12] and this is just the Streisand effect yet again. You're trying to suppress something more. People are going to learn about it and ultimately share it, or want to see it as a result. Now I'm interested in it. Where can I totally when when can I see it? It's just totally backfiring. [00:04:28] You're. You're so right. I mean, he really did do the documentarians behind this a massive favor. And the Streisand effect is real, guys. I mean, I don't know how many of you watching right now are public figures, or you're really worried about your reputation, but you do kind of have to weigh whether it makes sense to pursue, [00:04:47] like a defamation case or an attempt to censor something. Because if you do so, there's a huge likelihood that it's actually going to draw more attention to the very thing that you don't want people to see or know about. Now, several witnesses who worked with Milken and Netanyahu are also shown [00:05:04] speaking to police and said Netanyahu and his wife, Sarah expected regular gifts in exchange for favors. One such favor includes a marginal tax break extension that benefited Milken. Netanyahu argues his unusual inference regarding the tax break [00:05:23] was for the good of the state, not Milken. Right. I'm sure, I'm sure this country of Israel really benefits from one person getting a massive tax break. I'm sure that's the case now at various points when police officers [00:05:39] confront him with incriminating testimony. Netanyahu, this is so I can totally see him doing this. Netanyahu, like, raises his fists and slams his hand against the desk, which is why Bibi really didn't want the footage to spread around. It does not shed him, like in a positive light, or it doesn't [00:05:56] shed a positive light on him. And so he tried to censor the documentary. Ahead of the film screening in Canada on Monday, Netanyahu filed a lawsuit against the State of Israel and an Israeli investigative journalist by the name of Raviv Drucker. [00:06:12] Okay, so Netanyahu argued that the film violates Israeli law by screening unpublished footage from his police interrogations. But Israeli law does not grant privacy to subjects who have been photographed [00:06:30] or videoed in official proceedings. So the reasoning that he gives for censoring this doesn't even make sense. Additionally, in the suit against Drucker, remember this is the Israeli behind the documentary, who is also one of the producers of the film. [00:06:46] Netanyahu's attorney claimed that Drucker publicly identified himself as a political opponent of the prime minister, and expressed a desire for the end of his tenure. So what? Okay, he's got a bias. So what? [00:07:03] That doesn't mean that you get to censor his documentary, but a judge in Jerusalem District Court rejected Netanyahu's request, which is great. They said that since Netanyahu's motion was filed on the same day as the screening in Toronto, this was the Toronto International Film Festival. [00:07:21] There wasn't even enough time to do a proper hearing on this matter. Plus, it was being screened in Canada, not in Israel. So Israeli courts, as much as they might want to think they have jurisdiction over other countries, they don't. Or as much as Netanyahu would like to think they have jurisdiction [00:07:37] over other countries, they don't. So the film was in fact premiered and played, and it laid out the connections between his criminal proceedings and his desire to keep the war on Gaza going, as well as his attempt to give himself more power over the judiciary. [00:07:53] Remember, before the latest round of war on Gaza, there was there were mass protests in Israel over the fact that he wanted to do this judicial overhaul to disempower the courts in Israel and essentially [00:08:09] accumulate more power for himself, and I'm really happy to see that there were so many Israelis enraged about that. According to the documentary, Netanyahu's lawyer filed a motion to delay the trial, currently scheduled for December. The lawyer cites the ongoing war as the reason. [00:08:25] The producer of the film, Alex Gibney, told the Toronto Film Festival audience of Netanyahu, quote, I've never seen the depth of moral corruption as I've seen in this man, something that I think we can all agree with here at TYT. [00:08:41] Any final thoughts, Jordan? Well, I'm wondering if this film festival was in the United States, and even without an attempt at a legal challenge to suppress it that way, if he just made the request. [00:08:56] Hey, can you shut this down? What would us politicians do? And I'm I'm curious and I'm, I'm a little pessimistic because I think there would be many who would rush to his defense, who would ultimately try to do his work and censor free speech, censor [00:09:14] the airing of the documentary, censor art. It's just we, for some reason and only that country, it seems, are fine doing whatever we want. As undemocratic as it is, we pretend to care about freedom [00:09:30] and liberty and democracy. But when it comes to Israel, the rules don't apply. None of the rules or standards apply. It's yeah, whatever you want. And ultimately, like you point out, it's in defense or it's it's to further a genocide in Gaza. [00:09:46] And he's using that as an excuse while knowingly doing it as if he. Oh, I'm sorry, do we the war we don't want to interfere with the war. It's just it's not a good time for this war. Time is often used to suppress individual rights. This isn't new behavior. And he's just exploiting the same pattern right now. [00:10:04] Yeah, and innocent people are dying as a result of that. And he's expanding the war. It's not just Gaza. It's now the West Bank. It's now Lebanon. I mean, he has had the IDF drop bombs in Iran, in Syria. I mean, it is a disaster of epic proportions, and it could explode [00:10:22] into something far worse, and the United States would have to be dragged into it. I have no doubt that the US would be dragged into it. I mean, he is so obviously I mean, he's obviously corrupt, but he's got this conflict of interest and he's looking out for himself and his fear of prosecution. [00:10:43] I mean, he puts that above human lives. He puts that above the Israeli people. I mean, it's no wonder that there are mass protests against him and his government on a regular basis in Israel. Now they despise him. By the way, I absolutely have to correct something [00:10:58] that I got wrong earlier in this segment. So I was under the impression that the Israeli government does not grant privacy to subjects who have been photographed or videoed in official proceedings. It turns out that they do grant privacy. [00:11:14] So if I don't know how that would work though, right? So if that's what Netanyahu is citing in an effort to censor this film. Okay. But how do you prevent it from being played in another country? I don't know how that would work, but clearly the courts didn't have [00:11:30] enough time to adjudicate this case. So I guess we're not going to find out. And it has already been played at the Toronto International Film Festival. But, thanks Netanyahu for trying to censor it, because I'm definitely going to watch this film as soon as, as soon as it's available for everyone to see. And, yeah, it is incredible. [00:11:48] Like, I it takes a certain kind of person, Jordan. I feel like to to be a politician and like, especially a prime minister or a president. Right. Because there's like a certain level of sociopathic behavior that you have to [00:12:04] be willing to engage in and selfishness. And that's certainly what I see from Netanyahu time and time again. Well, yeah. I think for the vast majority of people who vie for those positions, that's absolutely the case. I don't want to. You know, I'm not saying you were. I don't want to group everybody into that category. [00:12:19] There are many good people. I mean, I think Sanders I think for the most part Warren was was pretty good. I think she had decent intentions. But once you get in there, even the best people will be corrupted by these systemic problems. [00:12:34] And I don't think that's the case for Netanyahu. I think this is just an evil person in a system that enables people like that. - And that's what we're seeing here. - Definitely. And you're right, some of them are very fine people. You are right about that. Netanyahu. Not one of them. Yes. 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