Russian journalist arrested in Israel for placing pro-Palestine sticker on memorial

A political journalist, Andrey Khrzhanovskiy, was arrested in Israel on Thursday after placing a pro-Palestine sticker on a “lookout platform to watch the genocide that their state is unfolding”, which was set up as a memorial for a soldier killed during the 7 October attack.

Khrzhanovskiy was detained at a café in Tel Aviv after Israeli police received a complaint regarding a video he shared on 30 November. The footage showed him attaching a sticker featuring a Palestinian flag and the phrase “Free Palestine” to a memorial honouring Israeli soldier, Shilo Cohen, in Sderot.

Meanwhile, Khrzhanovskiy described the memorial as “an Israeli lookout platform set up so that Israelis can come here and watch the genocide that their state is unfolding.”

He said in the video, “Behind me in the distance is Gaza; this is an Israeli lookout platform that was set up so that Israelis can come here and watch the genocide that their state is unfolding. They bring school children here, there are binoculars here you can use for 5 shekels. People come here from all over the country; from here, every falling rocket is just a quiet thud and plume of smoke. And from there, it’s a bunch of dead children.”

Israelis bring school field trips to Sderot to watch the genocide live.

In front of the binoculars there is a trashcan, so that small children can stand on it and take a closer look. pic.twitter.com/4HW0UlJKnE

— Andrey X (@the_andrey_x) November 30, 2024

At least 45,000 Palestinians have been killed, mainly women and children, and a further 106,000 have been wounded. An estimated 11,000 are missing, presumed dead, under the rubble of their homes and other civilian infrastructure destroyed by Israel in what amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Khrzhanovskiy’s lawyer argued that his actions were protected under free speech and did not constitute vandalism since the sticker was subsequently removed from the site. He was detained overnight and granted release on Friday with a bail set at NIS 15,000 (around $4,000). His release was conditional on avoiding memorial sites for the next month.

However, police reportedly appealed the decision, and according to a post on Khrzhanovskiy’s Instagram page, he will remain in custody until at least Sunday.

Russia had become increasingly dangerous for political journalists like Andrey, especially after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Being Jewish, he was able to secure an Israeli passport under Israel’s Law of Return. The law, enacted following the ethnic cleansing of more than half of the native Palestinian population in 1948, grants Jews from across the world the right to settle in any part of historic Palestine, including illegal settlements, despite not having any direct connection to the land. Palestinian descendants of those forcibly removed from their land in 1948 are denied this right and often cannot even visit the West Bank of the land of historic Palestine.

Determined to stay and witness the harsh realities of life in the West Bank, Andrey felt an increasing responsibility to report on the daily struggles under apartheid. “At some point, I felt it was my responsibility to do something about it,” he told MEMO “I can be more useful here in Palestine to my neighbours who are being oppressed by the Occupation than if I just go to Europe as I initially planned.”

In response to the footage, Israeli Housing and Construction Minister, Yitzchak Goldknopf, wrote to Israel Police chief, Daniel Levy, on Wednesday to demand steps are taken against Khrzhanovskiy.

“The above-mentioned leftist activist penetrates prohibited areas and systematically violates the law,” the Haredi Minister reportedly wrote. “In a series of videos, he appears in several cities in the Palestinian Authority after IDF operations against terrorists, including Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas. His actions constitute a blatant violation of the law and public order in the State of Israel.”

“As someone in charge of law and order in the State of Israel, I ask you to instruct the enforcement agencies to put an end to [his] immoral actions, which dishonour the memory of those killed, and fan the flames in the country,” Goldknopf wrote.

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