Sister of Israeli held in Baghdad shouts at Iraqi PM in Washington: ‘You don’t care!’
Emma Tsurkov tells PM Sudani he is doing nothing to release her sister, Elizabeth, who was kidnapped last year, allegedly by Iranian proxy
The sister of Russian-Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was abducted last year in Baghdad and has been held in captivity since, heckled Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at an event in Washington on Friday, saying he is not doing enough to secure her release.
“She’s held hostage in your country,” Emma Tsurkov shouted at Sudani during the Atlantic Council event in the US capital.
“You are not doing anything to save her. And you can’t, because they are your government’s partners. They are Iraqi government employees, and you should be ashamed of yourself that you’re not doing anything to help her and save her,” Tsurkov added. “She’s innocent and you know it.”
“How dare you come here pretending to be a legitimate leader when what you’re doing is enabling a bunch of terrorists… My sister has been held hostage for 13 months and you don’t care!”
Tsurkov has long said Sudani has the power to secure her sister’s release, but has chosen not to act.
Two weeks ago, US lawmakers sent a letter to US President Joe Biden urging him to secure Elizabeth Tsurkov’s release.
.@emma_tsurkov confronts the Iraqi Prime Minister.
Her sister is being held by Kataib Hezbollah, a terrorist group that an @ABC News investigation found has deep ties to the Iraqi government.
Our story here: https://t.co/JY7ISQuMXc
— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) April 19, 2024
A Princeton doctoral student, Tsurkov went missing in late March 2023 while doing research for her PhD dissertation on Shiite movements in Iraq. She likely used her Russian passport to enter the country, as Israel and Iraq do not have diplomatic relations.
Tsurkov was visiting Iraq for research work on Iran-backed factions in the country, particularly the movement of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr. A PhD candidate at Princeton, she previously conducted fieldwork in Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and other countries in the region, according to her website. She had also visited Iraq in the past.
After conducting an investigation into her quiet disappearance, Israeli authorities revealed in July that Tsurkov had been kidnapped, implicating the Iran-backed armed militia Kataeb Hezbollah in her abduction.
Kataeb Hezbollah (Hezbollah brigades) is one of the most prominent Iran-backed groups operating in Iraq, established in March 2003 following the US invasion of the country. The militia was recognized by the Iraqi government as a component of Iraq’s security forces in 2018 under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a group established with the aim to eradicate the Islamic State group.
Consequently, the militia today has become an integral part of the Iraqi security establishment while actually being subordinate to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
The group killed three US soldiers stationed in Jordan in January.
Israel announced in a statement that it “views Iraq as responsible for her fate and safety” and emphasized that Tsurkov traveled to Baghdad on her own initiative. Under Israeli law, it is illegal for Israeli citizens to enter enemy countries, even on a foreign passport.
The Iraqi government said in July it began an investigation soon after Israeli officials went public with Tsurkov’s kidnapping. There has been little news since.
In November, an Iraqi satellite TV network aired footage of Tsurkov, seemingly under duress, in which she asked in Hebrew for her release and ostensibly admitted to being a Western spy.
