Trump’s hostage envoy warns of consequences for Iraq if Israeli Tsurkov not freed

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

The Trump administration’s hostage envoy weighs in for the first time on the captivity of Princeton University researcher and Israeli-Russian national Elizabeth Tsurkov, warning the prime minister of Iraq — where she has been held hostage since 2023 by Iran-backed militia Kataeb Hezbollah — that he will be deemed complicit if she is not immediately released.

“Elizabeth Tsurkov is a Princeton student held hostage in Iraq!” Adam Boehler tweets, adding that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani “consistently made false promises to the prior administration about releasing her.”

“BUT NOW [US President Donald Trump] IS ON TO YOU!” he adds, warning that if Tsurkov “does not come home NOW then [Sudani] is either incapable and should be FIRED or worse COMPLICIT.”

He shares a tweet by Tsurkov’s sister.

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