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U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, called on Wednesday for the immediate release of the Israeli woman kidnapped in Iraq, Elizabeth Tsurkov. On behalf of the U.S. president, Buehler threatened Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani. "If she doesn't come home, he is an accomplice," he said.
Buehler said "Elizabeth Tsurkov is a Princeton University student who is being held hostage in Iraq. The Iraqi prime minister consistently made false promises to the previous administration about her release, but now President Trump is on it. If Tsurkov doesn't come home now - either the Iraqi prime minister is unable to return her, then he should be fired, or he is complicit in this (kidnapping). Bring Elizabeth Tsurkov home now!"
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Elizabeth Tsurkov was abducted in Baghdad on March 26, 2023, during a research trip
(Photo: AFP PHOTO / Ahmad Mohamad)
The coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Brig. Gen (res.) Gal Hirsch met with Buehler in Washington on Tuesday night. The two discussed, among other things, the Gaza hostage deal. After the meeting, Hirsch posted on the X network that "in the meeting, we discussed the hostage deal and ways to return all of our hostages, both living and dead."
Tsurkov, 36, is an Israeli national with Russian citizenship who had been living in the United States while pursuing a Ph.D. at Princeton University. She was abducted in Baghdad on March 26, 2023, during a research trip. While Kataib Hezbollah is widely believed to be holding her, the militia has denied involvement in her abduction.
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Hostage coordinator Brig.-Gen (res.) Gal Hirsch meets with his US counterpart Adam Boehler in Washington
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Last week, the Amwaj website, a British website that covers events in Iran and Iraq, reported that a proposal for a deal had been made in which Israel would release Hezbollah terrorists and a Lebanese ship captain who the IDF said was a senior member of the terrorist organization in exchange for the release of Tsurkov.
Three Iraqi sources close to the pro-Iranian militias in the country later denied the reports, claiming: "There are no channels with the Israeli enemy." They also claimed that they first heard about it through the media. The sources also denied previous reports that the Iraqi government was working to free her. One of the sources asked in response, "Do they even know where she is? Who she is with? How could they act?"