Jump to content

Andrey X

Add links
Page extended-confirmed-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by IvanScrooge98 (talk | contribs) at 13:06, 26 August 2025 (→Activism: fix). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Ilyich and the family name is Khrzhanovskiy.

Andrey X
Андрей Х
Andrey X in May 2022
Born
Andrey Ilyich Khrzhanovskiy

(1998-05-02) May 2, 1998 (age 27)
Citizenship
  • Russia
  • Israel
Education
Alma materUniversity College London
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • activist
Years active2021–present (journalism)
2023–present (activism)
OrganizationKompass
FatherIlya Khrzhanovsky
RelativesAndrei Khrzhanovsky (grandfather)
Websitewww.andreyx.com

Andrey Ilyich Khrzhanovskiy (Russian: Андре́й Ильи́ч Хржано́вский; born May 2, 1998),[1][2][3][4] known online as Andrey X, is a Russian-Israeli journalist and activist against Israeli settler violence in the West Bank. He has gained prominence during the Gaza war.

Early life and education

The son and grandson of Russian filmmakers Ilya and Andrei Khrzhanovsky, respectively,[5][6][7] Andrey Khrzhanovskiy was raised in Saint Petersburg.[3][7][8] He had a brief experience as a child actor, which includes a role in Room and a Half (2009), directed by his eponymous grandfather.[1][2]

In Saint Petersburg, he worked in an organization assisting people on the autism spectrum.[7] Having quit public schooling at the age of 14, he earned his high school degree at 16 and moved to Scotland, attending Gordonstoun to fullfil the requirements to enter a British university.[7][9] After spending a year learning about Buddhism and practicing kung fu at the Shaolin Monastery in China,[9] he graduated in Anthropology from University College London, with a dissertation focusing on the politics of post-Soviet countries – for which he spent some time in Transnistria.[6][7][9] He started his career as a journalist writing for Russian anti-government publications like Meduza, Novaya Gazeta, Doxa and Discours.[9]

Activism

Khrzhanovskiy was visiting his grandparents in Israel in February 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began; he chose to stay there, fearing potential persecution for his activity as a political journalist.[3][4][7][10][11] Taking advantage of his Jewish heritage, he applied for Israeli citizenship in accordance with the Law of Return and was granted a passport in a short time, allowing him to settle in Tel Aviv.[9][10][11] Although initially little informed about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Khrzhanovskiy said his interactions with Israelis and 1948 Palestinians quickly made him realize he was benefiting from the privileged side of an apartheid system, and felt compelled to "do something about it".[3][4][7][10][12] He has mainly attributed this to exchanges with two people: a real estate agent telling him that "Netanya is a very good place to live in because the mayor doesn't allow Arabs to rent apartments;"[12] and the owner of a Jaffa café where he worked being forced to visit his family in Jordan, who was expelled in 1948 and has since been prohibited from entering Israel.[4][7][12]

Following a firsthand encounter with a settler in the South Hebron Hills, as well as the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023 and the subsequent escalation of settler and state violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, including military raids, Khrzhanovskiy joined local human rights organizations and started documenting the incursions on social media, particularly in the village of Ras al-Auja[3][4][10] by the Hilltop Youth.[7] He also co-founded the activist and media company Kompass, providing Russian-language coverage of the West Bank.[3][7][9] Khrzhanovskiy claims that Israelis enjoy "endemic impunity" to commit human rights abuses and ethnic cleansing against locals, and maintains that only international pressure or direct intervention like UN peacekeeping missions can stop it.[4][10][12] According to his testimony, when Palestinians or international activists – himself included – are victims of settler assaults and report to the Israeli police, they are the ones to get arrested on those charges instead.[10]

In the summer of 2024, when he was at the Auja spring, Israeli settlers hit Khrzhanovskiy on the head with a stick, piercing his eardrum.[10] The following October, he was taken to a military base alongside four other journalists and reportedly blindfolded and beaten, with authorities charging them of "aiding the enemy during wartime" after his colleague Jeremy Loffredo of The Grayzone had reported on the landing of an Iranian missile on the Nevatim Airbase.[13] On 12 December 2024, he was forcibly abducted by the Israeli police in Tel Aviv and taken to a station in Sderot. The stated reason was to arrest him for "vandalism" over a video he had posted two weeks earlier, where he was seen placing a "Free Palestine" sticker on a lookout point in Sderot, used by Israelis to watch the bombing of the Gaza Strip but also claimed to be a memorial for an IDF soldier killed in the Be'eri massacre. His actions were publicly criticized by the Ministry of Construction and Housing of Israel, Yitzhak Goldknopf. Khrzhanovskiy was later released on conditional bail of ₪15,000.[3][8][14] According to him and his lawyers, he was repeatedly beaten and denied any food or water throughout his detention, as well as being refused language support on his trial despite his limited skills in Hebrew.[3][8] He is involved in 13 civil lawsuits with Israeli authorities as of May 2025; however, he has denounced the fact that, unlike him, Palestinians are tried in military courts.[3]

As of March 2025, Khrzhanovskiy had been living for nine months in the West Bank, moving from village to village every few days.[11] He supports a one-state solution to the conflict.[3] His political positions have been described as "far left",[5][7] with his father calling him "radical left-wing".[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Андрей Хржановский мл". Kinox.ru (in Russian). July 17, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Андрей Хржановский (младший)". Kino-Teatr.ru (in Russian). October 6, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j McCarthy, Hannah (May 18, 2025). "'Settler terrorism is a daily thing': a Jewish Russian activist who emigrated to Israel". The Irish Times. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Andrey X, journalist and TikTok phenomenon, testifies about ethnic cleansing in the West Bank". 111.111.111. June 23, 2025. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Сын режиссёра Хржановского задержан в Израиле за осквернение мемориала". Radio Svoboda (in Russian). December 14, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Dalton, Ben (August 21, 2025). "Ilya Khrzhanovsky updates on 'DAU' films, talks Gaza conflict, Mubi funding criticism". Screen Daily. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rozovksy, Liza (July 26, 2024). "'We Went Into Exile in Search of Freedom': Wave of Liberal Immigrants to Israel, Escaping Vladimir Putin". Haaretz. Retrieved August 24, 2025.
  8. ^ a b c Stein, Sam (January 23, 2025). "Israel's Arrest of Andrey X Shows Its Broader Suppression of Free Speech". The Progressive. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "about". www.andreyx.com. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Rahman, Anjuman (August 25, 2024). "'I can be more useful here in Palestine,' says Russian journalist resisting Israeli occupation". Middle East Monitor. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  11. ^ a b c Kaya, Deniz (March 2, 2025). "A life without borders: What is happening after ceasefire in the West Bank?". Agos. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  12. ^ a b c d Hashem, Mohamed (September 13, 2024). "Andrey X fled Russia for Israel. Now he documents settler violence against Palestinians". Middle East Eye. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  13. ^ "Israel detains 5 journalists, charges US reporter with 'aiding the enemy': Reports". Al Jazeera English. October 11, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  14. ^ "Activist arrested over 'Free Palestine' sticker on memorial for soldier killed Oct. 7". The Times of Israel. December 13, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrey_X&oldid=1307923853"