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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Andrey X mark? The spot.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

(1998-05-02) May 2, 1998 (age 28)
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Citizenship
  • Russia
  • Israel
Education
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • activist
Years active2021–present (journalism)
2023–present (activism)
OrganizationKompas (2023–2024)
FatherIlya Khrzhanovsky
RelativesAndrei Khrzhanovsky (grandfather)

Andrey Ilyich Khrzhanovskiy[a] (born May 2, 1998),[1][2][3] 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.

The son and grandson, respectively, of filmmakers Ilya and Andrei Khrzhanovsky, Andrey X was born and raised in Saint Petersburg. After traveling to several countries to pursue an education, he went back to Russia, where he worked as a journalist. He left the country upon the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, settling in Israel and gaining its citizenship. There, he grew sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and began to document settler violence in the West Bank, where he has since resided. Khrzhanovskiy's positioning has been characterized as far-left, and his activism has been met with societal controversy as well as legal issues in Israel.

Early life and education

Andrey Khrzhanovskiy was born in Saint Petersburg[4] to Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky, in turn the son of fellow filmmaker Andrei Khrzhanovsky,[5][6][7][8] and was raised in his birth city.[2][7][9] He had a brief experience as a child actor[1][10] which includes a role in Room and a Half (2009), directed by his grandfather.[1]

Having quit public schooling at the age of 14, he earned his high school degree from the State Russian Museum School at 16 and moved to Scotland, attending Gordonstoun to fulfil the requirements to enter a British university.[7][11][12] After spending a year learning about Buddhism and practicing kung fu at the Shaolin Monastery in China,[11] he graduated in Anthropology from University College London with a dissertation focusing on unrecognized states in the post-Soviet area, for which he spent some time in Transnistria.[11][13] He started his career as a journalist writing for Russian anti-government publications like Meduza, Novaya Gazeta, Doxa and Discours.[11][13] Until 2022, he also worked in an organization promoting theatre by people on the autism spectrum in Saint Petersburg.[7][14]

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.[2][3][7][15][16] Thanks to his Jewish heritage, he could apply for Israeli citizenship in accordance with the Law of Return; he was granted a passport shortly afterwards, allowing him to settle in Tel Aviv.[11][15][16]

Although initially little informed about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Khrzhanovskiy said his interactions with Israelis and Palestinians still living inside the Israeli border quickly made him realize he was benefiting from the privileged side of an apartheid system, and he felt compelled to "do something about it."[2][3][8][17] 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;"[17] and the owner of a Jaffa café where he worked having to travel to Jordan in order to visit his family, who was expelled in 1948 and has since been prohibited from entering Israel.[3][7][8][17]

Khrzhanovskiy chose to take action after a firsthand encounter with a settler in the South Hebron Hills, amid the escalating settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank – including military raids – following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023. He joined local human rights organizations engaged in so-called "protective presence" and started documenting the incursions on social media, particularly those in the village of Ras al-Auja[2][3][16] and in the Masafer Yatta area,[4][8] carried out by the Hilltop Youth.[7] He also co-founded the activist and media company Kompas (Компас), providing Russian-language coverage of the West Bank.[2][7][11] In the summer of 2024, when he was at the Auja spring, Israeli settlers hit him on the head with a stick, piercing his eardrum.[18][19]

The following October, Khrzhanovskiy and four other journalists were stopped on their way to Nablus and taken to a military base, where they were reportedly blindfolded, beaten and held for hours in the sun, with authorities charging his colleague Jeremy Loffredo of The Grayzone of "aiding the enemy during wartime" after he had reported on the landing of an Iranian missile on the Nevatim Airbase.[20][21] Due to Loffredo's association with a pro-Russian outlet, Khrzhanovskiy was expelled from the Kompas collective for failing to adhere to their values, "the main one of which is the rejection of any imperialism, including Russian." He commented that agreeing to accompany Loffredo was "a massive mistake and gross unprofessionalism on [his] part."[21]

On December 12, 2024, Khrzhanovskiy was arrested 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 dedicated to the memory of an IDF soldier killed in the Be'eri massacre during the October 7 attacks. His actions were publicly criticized by the Ministry of Construction and Housing of Israel, Yitzhak Goldknopf. Khrzhanovskiy was released on conditional bail of ₪15,000,[2][9][22] after spending four days in the same prison cell as "Kahanists" and "settlers convicted of homicide".[8][16] 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;[2][8][9] he also denounced last-minute changes to his trial locations, which he claims had the goal of hindering the presence of his defense attorney.[16]

On October 3, 2025, Khrzhanovskiy was part of a group of Israeli protesters who attempted to cross the Israel–Gaza border on foot, in stated solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla as an act of pressure to "dismantle the siege on Gaza – by sea and by land." Along with other activists, he was detained and assaulted by Israeli forces, who allegedly sprained his wrist.[8][23][24]

In November 2025, Khrzhanovskiy toured Swedish cities, where he spoke about Israeli settler violence.[25][26] Shortly later, in early December, he was convicted to one month and a fine for spray-painting the Embassy of Russia in Tel Aviv two years prior, in protest of the country's war on Ukraine;[27][better source needed] as of May 2026, the one-month jail sentence is still suspended.[8]

Views

Khrzhanovskiy's political positions have been described as "far-left",[5][7] with his father calling him "radical left-wing".[6] An anti-Zionist,[8] he contests the legitimacy of the State of Israel and uses the term "1948 territories",[16] supporting a one-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[2] Far-right groups in Israel, including Im Tirtzu and My Israel, have openly criticized him for his "delegitimization campaign against Israel" and have claimed that his denunciation of Israel's genocide in Gaza is close to an antisemitic conspiracy theory,[8] while fellow content creator Shareef Safadi of Haifa has called his work "counter hasbara".[8] Israeli public broadcaster KAN once alleged Khrzhanovskiy may be part of a Russian campaign aimed at destabilizing the country.[8]

Khrzhanovskiy says 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.[3][17] According to the testimonies he gave to Middle East Monitor and India Today, when Palestinians or international activists – himself included – are victims of settler assaults (which he characterizes as pogroms) and report to the Israeli authorities, either they are the ones to get arrested on those charges, or settlers are directly joined in their violence by state forces.[18][28] He is involved in 13 civil lawsuits with Israeli authorities as of May 2025;[2] however, he has denounced the fact that, unlike him, Palestinians are tried in military courts.[2][28] When asked to comment on the attitude of the Israeli and Russian authorities vis-à-vis dissidents, he said that, while Russia is a "classic fascist dictatorship" towards anyone who disagrees with the government,[16] Israel is rooted in ethnic supremacy – giving Jews "a remarkable amount of political freedom"[16][28] while keeping Palestinians in a condition "worse than that of [dissidents] in Russia".[16] He has likened Russia jailing dissidents over "stickers" to Israel jailing Palestinians over "Facebook posts".[8]

According to Khrzhanovskiy, Israeli society and institutions have a generalized genocidal attitude towards Palestinians,[8][28] and "will not be satisfied until Palestinians are completely gone".[28] He has claimed that the murder of Palestinian children has been normalized as a means to prevent "terrorism",[8] and has blamed continued violence on "decades of dehumanization" similar to the one behind the genocides of the 20th century.[28] He has also contrasted the support of the Russian opposition for Israel's genocide with their preoccupation for human rights in Russia.[8]

Personal life

When he first settled in Tel Aviv in 2022, Khrzhanovskiy was married; he has since divorced from his wife.[14] As of July 2026, he had been living for two and a half years in the West Bank, being hosted by Palestinian families and moving from village to village every few days;[14][15][16] in May 2026, he was staying in Beit Jala.[8] Due to his close contact with Palestinians and his estrangement from Israeli society, he no longer identifies as Israeli.[8]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Russian: Андре́й Ильи́ч Хржано́вский; Hebrew: אנדריי איליץ׳ חרז׳נובסקי.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Андрей Хржановский мл" [Andrey Khrzhanovskiy Jr.]. Kinox.ru (in Russian). July 17, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 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.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Andrey X, journalist and TikTok phenomenon, testifies about ethnic cleansing in the West Bank". 11.11.11. June 23, 2025. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  4. 1 2 Freddi, Sylvie (July 30, 2026). "Andrey X un israeliano al fianco dei palestinesi" [Andrey X, an Israeli on the side of Palestinians]. Europa Domani (in Italian). Retrieved August 2, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Сын режиссёра Хржановского задержан в Израиле за осквернение мемориала" [Director Khrzhanovsky's son detained in Israel for desecrating a memorial]. Radio Svoboda (in Russian). December 14, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  6. 1 2 Dalton, Ben (August 21, 2025). "Ilya Khrzhanovsky updates on 'DAU' films, talks Gaza conflict, Mubi funding criticism". Screen Daily. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rozovsky, 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Morad, Ori (May 25, 2026). "'Israelis Are More Genocidal Than People Think': Andrey X Is the 'Counter Hasbara' TikToker". Haaretz. Retrieved August 2, 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 Stein, Sam (January 23, 2025). "Israel's Arrest of Andrey X Shows Its Broader Suppression of Free Speech". The Progressive. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Фильм Крылья (Россия, 2013)" [Film Wings (Russia, 2013)]. Afisha (in Russian). Retrieved August 2, 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Khrzhanovskiy, Andrey. "about". www.andreyx.com. Archived from the original on August 24, 2025. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  12. ↑ Khrzhanovskiy, Andrey. "CV" (PDF). www.andreyx.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 6, 2026. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  13. 1 2 "Andrey X Archives". +972 Magazine. Retrieved August 2, 2026.
  14. 1 2 3 Volokh, Mariya (September 25, 2025). "Андрей Х о борьбе 'бенефициара системы государства апартеида'. Интервью" [Andrey X on the struggle of a "beneficiary of the apartheid state system". Interview]. NEWSru (in Russian). Retrieved January 16, 2026.
  15. 1 2 3 Kaya, Deniz (March 2, 2025). "A life without borders: What is happening after ceasefire in the West Bank?". Agos. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Raineri, Daniele (July 14, 2026). "L'israeliano che i palestinesi chiamano quando hanno i coloni in casa" [The Israeli that Palestinians call for when they have settlers in their homes]. Il Post (in Italian). Retrieved August 2, 2026.
  17. 1 2 3 4 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.
  18. 1 2 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.
  19. ↑ Rains, Brendan F. (September 2, 2024). "Food, Water, and Shelter: Basic Needs in the West Bank Under Threat of Settler Violence". Rains Report. Retrieved August 2, 2026 – via Substack.
  20. ↑ "Israel detains 5 journalists, charges US reporter with 'aiding the enemy': Reports". Al Jazeera English. October 11, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  21. 1 2 "«Компас» исключает Хржановского из объединения из-за поездки на Западный берег с журналистом пророссийского издания Grayzone" [Kompas expels Khrzhanovsky from the association due to his trip to the West Bank with a journalist from the pro-Russian publication Grayzone.]. Doxa (in Russian). October 12, 2024. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  22. ↑ "Activist arrested over 'Free Palestine' sticker on memorial for soldier killed Oct. 7". The Times of Israel. December 13, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  23. ↑ TRT World [@trtworld] (October 3, 2025). "An independent journalist and an activist Andrey X attempted to cross into the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza from Israel, and got detained by Israeli forces" (Tweet). Retrieved October 4, 2025 – via X (formerly Twitter).
  24. ↑ Kubovich, Yaniv; Breiner, Josh; Solomon, Eden (October 3, 2025). "Israel Intercepts Last Gaza Sumud Flotilla Boat; Ben-Gvir Mocks Activists Before Deportation". Haaretz. Retrieved October 4, 2025.
  25. ↑ Dawod, Nivette (November 23, 2025). "Han gör content av bosättarvåldet: 'Hela poängen'" [He makes content about settler violence: "The whole point"]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved December 4, 2025.
  26. ↑ "Andrey X: Between checkpoints (Malmö)". Beit Ebla. Archived from the original on November 18, 2025. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
  27. ↑ Andrey X [@the_andrey_x] (December 4, 2025). "I just got convicted by an Israeli court" (Tweet). Retrieved December 4, 2025 – via X (formerly Twitter).
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mohan, Geeta (April 1, 2026). "'They Don't See Palestinians as Humans': Russian-Israeli Journalist Andrey X on Apartheid, Settler Violence, and the Death Penalty Law". India Today. Retrieved August 2, 2026.
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