Israeli who fought in Syria denies working with Canadian to free women

Israeli-Canadian activist Gill Rosenberg rebuffed reports on Tuesday that she is working for Canadian businessman Steve Maman in his bid to rescue Yazidi women and girls from the hands of the Islamic State, indicating that Maman has used her name for self-promotion.

In a telephone interview with The Times of Israel from outside the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk, Rosenberg said Maman flew her to Iraq last month to observe his activities there, and even considered joining his Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children of Iraq (CYCI) project, but was disillusioned by the low character of the smugglers involved.

“I’m too much of a high-value target to be involved with this,” she said. “These brokers they’re working with would sell their own children for five dollars. I wouldn’t entrust my life in their hands.”

Maman, a Montreal Jewish businessman and father of six, says his non-profit has successfully negotiated the release of nearly 130 women and girls from IS-controlled areas in Iraq in the last several months, utilizing a network of contacts in Syria and Iraq to buy their release.

However, his effort was recently criticized by a group of Yazidis in Iraq and Rosenberg also questioned CYCI’s methods.

Maman was not immediately available for comment.

Rosenberg, who made headlines for joining a Kurdish militia to fight against the Islamic State before returning to Israel earlier this year, denied ever being employed by CYCI.

‘I want to go in a different direction’

“I participated in one rescue of Yazidi children with CYCI last week as a guest, but that’s the only thing I participated in with them,” she said. “I truly believe that he [Maman] wants to help people here, and he is helping, but I want to go in a different direction.”

Rosenberg said that CYCI pays human traffickers to “steal” Yazidi and Christian women and children from the hands of the Islamic State in northern Iraq.

“Steve [Maman] contacted me and told me about the work that he was doing, said he liberated 120 plus people already, and wanted me to see it for myself on the ground,” she said. “I came back [to Iraq] about two and a half weeks ago.”

Yazidi Kurdish women chant slogans during a protest against the Islamic State group’s invasion on Sinjar city one year ago, in Dohuk, northern Iraq, Monday, Aug. 3, 2015 (AP/Seivan M. Salem)

Rosenberg said that Maman had no specific role to offer her in the liberation of the Yazidis. “Me and another journalist were in some pictures with the people that were liberated, we spent a bit of time with the family that was reunited. The whole thing took maybe 45 minutes or an hour.”

“It seems like Steve [Maman] is putting my name out there in association with CYCI. I’m not a part of the organization. They have a team here on the ground, and I’m not a part of it … I’ve asked him not to use my name but he continues to put it out there in the media. It’s problematic.”

More questions raised

Rosenberg was not the only one to question Maman’s operation in Iraq.

On Saturday, a group of Yazidi spiritual leaders, politicians, activists and aid workers demanded that Maman provide evidence that he is saving lives. In a letter to VICE News – whose signers include the supreme spiritual leader of the Yazidis, Babasheikh Kherto Ismael; a Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament, Vian Dhakil; and the heads of Yazda, a Yazidi rights advocacy group – they raised several issues with the way Maman has conducted his work.

Steve Maman shakes hands with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. (Courtesy Steve Maman)

The letter also argued that Maman “has brought a high level of visibility to a delicate and sensitive rescue effort that should have been kept low-profile.”

First, the letter claims that while Maman has taken credit for rescuing Christians, there is no evidence that the Islamic State has abused Christian women. The signatories also claimed that when CYCI said it had rescued 102 people several weeks ago, it had only raised around $80,000 – a sum that seemed impossibly low, the letter’s signers said.

“We are concerned that this may be reckless,” the letter read.

Rosenberg said she intends to return to Israel shortly, after visiting the front line and some old friends she met during the time she spent as a fighter with an Assyrian militia earlier this year.

Times of Israel staff and JTA contributed to this report