Israel Shamir – The Unz Review Aug 10, 2026

Years ago, Americans and Israelis were called to support the Russian Jews trying to leave the Red Empire. Now it is other way around – a Russian-Israeli journalist was arrested upon his arrival in Tel Aviv Airport. The arrested by Shabak, the Israeli analogue of FBI (or Gestapo) is a really nice guy, Artyom Kirpichonok. He was born and brought up in St Petersburg, has been taken by his mother to Israel in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, studied history, obtained PhD in Jerusalem Hebrew University, and eventually returned to St Petersburg, the city of his childhood. Artyom wrote articles for the Russian and Turkish media, and was very active in counter-Zionist meetings. He was invited to many gatherings for solidarity with the Palestinians, penned a few short books, notably the People’s History of Israel (named so after Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the US). Artyom made his living by guiding tourists in St Petersburg, the beautiful city, the Capital of the Russian Empire of old. Artyom is a soft, modest, moderate guy, left-leaning without extreme. His arrest was a great shock for all his acquaintances.

It seems that he was enticed to come to Israel by the Shabak; though he frequently visited Israel, where he had a flat and many friends. In Israel, they have no habeas corpus, the secret service can keep its prisoners for years without trial and even without specific charges. Indeed, there are something like 2000 prisoners without charges, many are Palestinians, but the Jews also can get imprisoned without trial or charges.

His last published column in TRT was We are proud of being hated, previous one The Arab citizens of Israel from Ghetto to Apartheid. The most popular book by Artyom is The People’s History of Israel.

Detention of this kind man, a scholar of very moderate views, show us to what horror Israel is coming, surely it will be a big surprise for those who thought Jews are safe in Israel.

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