Emma Tsurkov, whose sister Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped in Baghdad in March 2023, met recently with U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler.
They discussed her sister’s captivity in Iraq, Tsurkov shared on X.
She further issued a warning to Kata’ib Hezbollah (“The Battalions of the Party of God”), the Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi’ite militia believed to have taken Elizabeth hostage.
“Her captors, Kataib Hezbollah, must be held accountable by [Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia] Al Sudani. They should consider what became of Hamas,” Tsurkov tweeted on May 17, posting a photo of herself alongside Boehler.
On March 5, Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji said that authorities were actively searching for Elizabeth Tsurkov.
“Iraqi authorities are working under the prime minister’s direction” to solve the issue, he told AFP.
“The security services are actively working to locate her and identify the group responsible for her kidnapping,” al-Araji said, adding that no one has claimed responsibility or made demands for her release.
“We must operate discreetly and through intermediaries to track her down,” he said.
Emma Tsurkov spoke with JNS on Jan. 12, expressing hopes that the incoming Trump administration would “put an end to the lack of accountability and lawlessness that the Iraqi government is allowed to get away with.”
On Feb. 5, Boehler wrote on X, “Elizabeth Tsurkov is a Princeton student held hostage in Iraq! The [Iraqi prime minister] consistently made false promises to the prior administration about releasing her. BUT NOW [U.S. President Donald Trump] IS ON TO YOU.”
According to Tsurkov, Boehler met with al-Sudani in Baghdad in February to discuss Elizabeth’s kidnapping.
“The Trump Administration has done more in just a few weeks than the previous administration did in almost two years,” she said at the time, as cited by Reuters.
“I am especially grateful to Boehler for going directly to meet with Prime Minister Sudani in Baghdad. His engagement with Sudani makes it clear that the U.S. holds Sudani responsible for finding a way to get my sister home.”
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton University researcher, was visiting Iraq for her Ph.D. dissertation.
The first sign of life from Tsurkov came from a televised video of her aired in Iraq in November 2023, purportedly confessing to working for the CIA and Mossad.
U.S. media reported in March 2024 that her sister received new confirmation from U.S. and Israeli officials that Elizabeth was still alive.