On 2 August, the Russian-Israeli historian and journalist Artem Kirpichenok was arrested at Tel Aviv Airport in Israel, where he had flown on an invitation to take part in an academic conference. The operation was carried out by the Israeli Security Agency – the Shin Bet – which is notorious for its methods, including torture and a complete disregard for human rights.
No official charges were brought against him either at the time of his detention or afterwards. For a long time, his lawyer, Inna Lebedinskaya-Katz, was not even allowed to meet with him. When permission was finally granted, the meeting was limited to just one hour, and she was forbidden from taking notes, meaning the lawyer had to memorise all the information from her client’s own words.
According to Inna, the historian is being interrogated for 18–24 hours at a time, in handcuffs, tied to a stool bolted to the floor. He is being interrogated simultaneously by three or four investigators, who have threatened him with a life sentence, and he is deprived of sleep and held in a basement cell under constant lighting. Books, notebooks and pens are prohibited. Although Kirpichenok’s physical condition is satisfactory, he is exhausted and depressed, his lawyer reports.
The law allows the Shin Bet to deny a detainee access to a lawyer for up to 20 days – Kirpichenok was held incommunicado for three weeks, exceeding this limit.
All these measures are used to extract a confession from the accused, in circumstances where the investigators have no concrete evidence of guilt.
No charges have yet been brought; the case file has not been shown to his lawyer; and a ban on reporting on the case was in force until 27 August. According to his lawyer, the investigation is not interested in pursuing charges related to his trips to Iran, as has been speculated. It is clear that the Israeli authorities intend to bring charges of a somewhat different nature.
What, then, might be the primary reason for the Israeli security services’ interest in this journalist? Artem Kirpichenok has, consistently and over a long period, studied Israeli historiography, debunking the lies propagated by the Israeli regime.
In books such as The People’s History of Israel and Israel: The Road to Catastrophe, he reveals that all talk of the democratic and progressive nature of the state of Israel and its origins is nothing more than propaganda, designed to conceal the crimes committed against the region’s peaceful Palestinian population. He has also condemned Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on 7 October 2023.
Against the backdrop of the deepening crisis of the Netanyahu regime and the US/Israeli war against Iran, the Israeli authorities are taking the harshest measures against all their political opponents. We have already seen this in the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in which at least 60,000 people have been killed.
We have also already seen for ourselves what principles the so-called defenders of democratic rights and freedoms truly base themselves upon. Behind these saccharine, hypocritical words, they conceal their defence of the interests of western imperialism in the Middle East, for which Israel has long been – and continues to be – an outpost and an instrument.
In this situation, the Russian authorities have also clearly revealed their true colours. The Russian mission and official diplomatic channels have confined themselves merely to a quiet enquiry to the Israeli authorities. Otherwise, however, they remain completely silent.
This is precisely why, in the struggle for democratic freedoms, our own governments and their so-called democratic oppositions are by no means our allies. Moreover, they themselves are not fighters for these freedoms. Only the communists, the working class and the youth can consistently wage this struggle, but only if they act as a class-based, international and independent force.
We call on people not to limit themselves to mere words and acts of solidarity in support of Artem Kirpichenok. We need an organised political force capable of uniting the working masses of all countries and mobilising them to defend their interests. Only joint pressure from the international working class on their respective governments can prevent such attacks against dissidents.
At present, many are talking about urgent measures to help Artem extricate himself from this predicament. But the truth is that when freedom of political expression is suppressed by force, it can only be defended by force.
The arrest of Comrade Kirpichenok is nothing more than an extension of the repression against pro-Palestine students at universities in Europe and America, as well as the bloody massacre in Gaza. This is a unified, deliberate and systematic policy of the Israeli bourgeoisie and its masters in Washington, which has been pursued for decades. It cannot be countered by one or two ‘solidarity’ actions, and certainly not solely in the territory of another country.
Only by building a powerful, independent working-class party, unbound by national borders, can we not only secure the release of Comrade Artem, but also prevent such incidents from happening again.
Free Artem Kirpichenok!
Down with Netanyahu’s executioners!
Workers of the world, unite!
