From the Liveblog of
Friday, October 3, 2025
‘Finally, blessedly, free’: Elizabeth Tsurkov makes first statement following release from Kataeb Hezbollah captivity
Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Russian-Israeli academic who was kidnapped by the Shiite militia Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq in 2023 and released earlier this month, issues her first public statement since being freed on September 10, thanking the US for orchestrating it.
“Finally, blessedly, free after 903 days in captivity,” Tsurkov writes on X. “Thank you President @realDonaldTrump, for the decisive action that brought me home without anything given in return to the kidnappers, Kataeb Hezbollah.”
She says she is “deeply grateful” to US Special Envoy for Hostage Response, Adam Boehler, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their efforts, as well.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who tried to help in any way,” adds Tsurkov.
Finally, blessedly, free after 903 days in captivity. Thank you President @realDonaldTrump, for the decisive action that brought me home without anything given in return to the kidnappers, Kataeb Hezbollah.
I am deeply grateful to Special Envoy for Hostage Response @aboehler,…— Elizabeth Tsurkov (@Elizrael) October 3, 2025
In a follow-up post in Hebrew, Tsurkov thanks Israel’s Hostage and Missing Persons Coordinator Gal Hirsch for working to secure his release, and her medical teams in Israel for the care she received upon her return.
“I have no words to describe the feeling of happiness of being free and being with my family,” she adds. “All the hostages and their families deserve to experience this feeling.
Notably, Tsurkov does not thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel was said to have had very little to do with freeing her, and the Times of Israel reported following her release that without the intervention and pressure of the US administration, she might have remained in captivity in Iraq for many more years.
The Times of Israel Community.