Elizabeth Tsurkov arrives in Israel after two years of Iraq captivity
"I spoke with Emma and Avital, her sisters, and during the emotional conversation I told them that all of Israel is happy to see her back home," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov
Elizabeth Tsurkov landed in Israel Wednesday, a day after the Israeli-born graduate student was released from two years of captivity in Iraq.
“The head of the Mossad thanks his Cypriot counterpart for the assistance in facilitating Elizabeth’s humanitarian transfer through Cyprus to Israel. The cooperation between the two countries once again proves itself,” read a joint statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Tsurkov, 38, an Israeli born to Russian parents who was kidnapped from Baghdad two years ago, had been freed.
“I am pleased to report that Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton student, whose sister is an American citizen, was just released by Kata’ib Hezbollah” and is now “safely in the American embassy in Iraq after being tortured for many months,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Tsurkov, who is Jewish, was kidnapped by the Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi’ite militia Kata’ib Hezbollah (“The Battalions of the Party of God”) in early 2023 while studying in Baghdad for her doctoral dissertation.
Opinion
Europe's hypocrisy in the face of the Israeli attack against Hamas in Qatar
Leandro Fleischer
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed shortly after midnight, Israel time, that Tsurkov had been released.
Her release had been secured through “great efforts” headed by IDF Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the captives and missing, “which lasted many long months,” said Netanyahu.
“This evening, I spoke with Emma and Avital, her sisters, and during the emotional conversation I told them that all of Israel is happy to see her back home,” he continued.
Israel “will continue to fight with strength and determination until we bring all of our hostages back home, both the living and those who have fallen,” he said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog likewise expressed joy over Tsurkov’s release, writing on X that “the end of the nightmare she went through and her return to freedom is great news.”
He went on to state that, “I thank everyone involved in the work to secure Elizabeth’s release, and all those who fought for her both around the world and here in Israel. A special thanks to all partners, and especially to U.S. President Donald Trump for his commitment to her release.”
“May we soon hear good news also about the 48 hostages who are still being cruelly held in the hell of captivity in Gaza,” Herzog concluded.
Memos point to Red Cross knowledge of Hamas presence in Gaza hospitals
The internal Hamas memos were among a cache of documents declassified by the Israel Defense Forces. NGO Monitor translated the Arabic-language documents into English and released them to the public.
“While repeatedly echoing Hamas allegations and condemning Israel’s operations to end the exploitation of hospitals for terror, these groups clearly knew that Hamas exploited these facilities and chose to remain silent,” said Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor.
The documents, dated February and March 2020, not only show Hamas’s deliberate strategy of placing its fighters, leaders and terror infrastructure inside hospitals in Gaza, but reveal that NGOs worked right next to them, in at least one case in an adjoining office.
© JNS
LATEST
