"They Don't See Palestinians as Humans": Russian-Israeli Journalist Andrey X on Apartheid, Settler Violence, and the Death Penalty Law

In the occupied West Bank, a quiet ethnic cleansing is unfolding, one water pipe, one shepherd, one village at a time. Andrey X, an independent Russian-Israeli journalist and activist, has spent four years documenting what he calls a state-sponsored project to erase the Palestinian presence from the land. In this interview with India Today Global's Executive Editor Geeta Mohan, he breaks down Israel's new death penalty law for Palestinians convicted in military courts, the daily settler pogroms that accelerate when the world looks away, and why his Israeli citizenship is the only thing keeping him out of jail or worse.

Q: Let's begin with the law itself. What has Itamar Ben-Gvir just managed to push through the Knesset?

Andrey X: This is another step towards further institutionalising apartheid within the territory controlled by Israel. The law purports to be targeting terrorists, but the vast majority of terror attacks here are committed by Israeli Jews, specifically by settlers in the West Bank. Every few days, Palestinians are being murdered during pogroms and various attacks. There are terror outposts set up specifically to terrorise Palestinian communities. But the law, of course, targets Palestinians. It is written in a way that makes it inapplicable to Jews. Even though it is quite likely that the Supreme Court will strike it down, it is still another precedent, enshrining apartheid as an even more official system of governance than it already was.

Q: What has the reaction been within Israel, among those questioning Netanyahu's government and those supporting it?

Andrey X: The political discourse is quite split. You have the ultra-far-right faction of Ben Gvir and Smotrich, which has been driving many of these changes. Their project is what you could call Lebensraum: the conquest of living space. It is a genuinely eliminationist faction. Their goal is to completely clear Palestine of Palestinian presence and enshrine the supremacy of what they see as a master race. They control key government positions: the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Security, and governance of the West Bank. Then there is the opposition, which largely disagrees with this law. But we have to be honest: due to decades of what I would call indoctrination, the discourse within Israeli society is overwhelmingly right wing. Recent polls show 73% of Israeli Jews support the war against Iran, more than half support the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, and nearly half support the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians holding Israeli IDs. So there is opposition, but even within it, many people who want Netanyahu gone still support annexation of the West Bank and a state of ethnic supremacy.

Q: Do you see a growing voice among Palestinians themselves, and among Israeli dissenters, saying enough is enough?

Andrey X: Among Palestinians, there is what in Arabic is called sumud: resilience, steadfastness. Palestinians have been defending themselves and holding on to their land for decades, since the beginning of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, and their resilience only grows stronger. I am amazed every time I am with my Palestinian friends, who, despite everything, are determined to hold on. Within Israeli society, there is a very small faction of Israeli Jews standing in solidarity and co-resisting with Palestinians, coming to the West Bank to do protective presence, staying in Palestinian communities to document human rights violations. These are the same people who were protesting in Tel Aviv against the war with Iran just days ago. They were attacked, beaten, and even tortured in police cars after their arrest. Twelve people were arrested at that demonstration. So people are resisting by whatever means they can. But it is, unfortunately, a very small minority.

Q: Can this law be overturned?

Andrey X: The Supreme Court is quite likely to overturn it. It is still largely independent. Netanyahu's coalition has been fighting for control over it for four years and has made gains, but they don't fully control it yet. That system of checks and balances still exists, and it is safeguarding against the worst extremes. But I must also say: it is the same Supreme Court that has affirmed the ethnic cleansing of the Masafer Yatta region in the south of the West Bank, and has continuously participated in the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank over decades. So it is in a better political position than the government, but it is still part of the same system.

Q: You are reporting from the West Bank with remarkable bravery. How are you able to do this, and what is your safety net?

Andrey X: My safety net is very simple: Israeli citizenship. I acquired it four years ago, and when I did, I had no idea this would become my purpose. But it is now the only thing that allows me to do what I do. If I held a foreign citizenship, I would have been deported long ago. If I held a Palestinian ID, I would likely be dead or in prison. Israel is an apartheid state inflicting unspeakable horrors on Palestinians, but if you are an Israeli Jew, you still have a remarkable amount of political freedom. You can say things that you wouldn't be able to say in any other kind of dictatorship. The difference is that this dictatorship is based on what kind of blood flows through your veins. And according to the Israeli government, the correct kind flows through mine.

Q: Have the attacks against Palestinians intensified recently, particularly now that global attention is on Iran?

Andrey X: Absolutely. There is an escalation every few weeks. The latest came with Israel's declaration of war against Iran. Now there are settler pogroms every single day. Palestinians are being killed almost daily. Just earlier today, I was in the village of Nahalin, where settlers two days ago came in, burned down two cars, and drew Stars of David on Palestinian houses. The settlers know the world's attention is on Iran rather than the West Bank or Gaza, and they see this as their opportunity to escalate, to make as much progress in their project of ethnic cleansing as they possibly can.

Q: You have documented not just violent attacks but systemic methods used to drive Palestinians off their land: water, livestock, movement restrictions. Can you explain how that works?

Andrey X: The settler pogroms get attention because they produce dramatic footage: burning houses, shooting at civilians. But the methods of ethnic cleansing are far more all-encompassing. Take water, for example. In the West Bank, much of the terrain is desert, and water is essential for survival. The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian village of Ras 'Ein al-'Auja was carried out in large part by cutting off Palestinian access to the spring they had relied on for decades. First, settlers began attacking people on their way to and from the water. Then the Israeli army started blocking access. Finally, the Israeli water company, Mekorot, cut them off completely. That, combined with settler attacks, is how Israel expelled over a thousand Palestinian Bedouins from Ras 'Ein al-'Auja. It is a state project: the settlers, the army, and the water company all working together.

Q: Has the focus of the ethnic cleansing project shifted to the West Bank now that Gaza is so devastated?

Andrey X: The focus has been on the West Bank throughout, but the Israeli government and settler movement have been using the Gaza genocide as a distraction, because global attention was fixed there. That gave them room to escalate in the West Bank with far less scrutiny. Dozens of communities have been expelled over the past two and a half years. Right now, Area C of the West Bank is largely cleared of Palestinian presence. The South Jordan Valley, as of two months ago, is done: Area C there is completely clear. Now settlers and the army are moving on to Jericho, a major Palestinian town that settlers are not even legally permitted to enter, which is increasingly becoming a target. Palestinians are being pushed into smaller and smaller areas, and the settlers and the state will not be satisfied until Palestinians are completely gone.

Q: Do you see all of this, Gaza, the West Bank, South Lebanon, as part of a Greater Israel strategy?

Andrey X: Israel's strategy since the beginning of the Zionist movement has been straightforward: get as much land as possible. If you read through cabinet meetings of Ben-Gurion and his ministers from 1948 and 1949, the moment the first ceasefire was signed, they were already asking what to invade next. The West Bank? Lebanon? Sinai? When they got the opportunity in 1956, they invaded Sinai and tried to stay, but U.S. and Soviet pressure forced them to pull back. Whatever the government, even more liberal ones have been willing to take as much land as they can. If they see an opportunity to hold Sinai, control southern Lebanon, or even move into Jordan, they will take it. That is clear from both their rhetoric and their on-the-ground policy across decades.

Q: Coming back to the death penalty law, what are the fears for Palestinians currently under trial, given a 96% military court conviction rate?

Andrey X: The fear is that there is the law as written, and then there is what is actually implemented, and those are very different things. In theory, the Israeli army is responsible for protecting Palestinians in the West Bank. In practice, we see the opposite: the army attacks alongside settlers and participates in pogroms. The law effectively gives Israel a blank check to execute Palestinians, many of whom are being held simply as hostages for political purposes. My friend and colleague Ayman Ghraib has been in administrative detention for almost six months, for making videos. He was doing reporting and activism in the Jordan Valley and was simply kidnapped, held without trial, on so-called secret evidence. After six months, they can renew it. Palestinians can be held indefinitely. The fear is that the current detention camps housing Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, many of them kidnapped for no reason, could turn into death camps.

Q: Finally, the images of children being detained or taken from their families. Why is this happening with increasing frequency?

Andrey X: This has been happening for a long time, but it is intensifying. Two days ago, a 15-year-old Palestinian child was killed by the Israeli army in the Aida refugee camp in the middle of Bethlehem. One of the worst stories I know personally involves a family that was attacked by settlers twice in one month. The settlers emptied a can of pepper spray into their house, spraying a four-month-old baby. Then they did it again two months later. By the age of six months, that baby had been pepper sprayed twice and now has severe respiratory problems. As for why: this is the result of decades of dehumanisation. These soldiers and these settlers do not see Palestinians as human beings. They feel morally justified in doing whatever they want to them. It is the same genocidal dehumanisation we saw in genocides across the 20th century.

- Ends

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