Israeli Jewish woman remains kidnapped in Iraq as Iraqi PM at UNGA
Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped six months ago in Baghdad.
Six months ago, on March 21, US-based researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, the daughter of Soviet political prisoners and a dual Israeli and Russian citizen, was kidnapped in Iraq. The kidnapping of the Princeton doctoral student was reported by the Prime Minister’s Office only in July, which announced that she was being held hostage by the Iraqi Shi’ite militia Kataib Hezbollah. In September Amnesty International and other organizations called for her release.
In response to questions from the Jerusalem Post, former Soviet prisoner Natan Sharansky said “the Iraqi government has to feel it is their responsibility because, after all the organization that kidnapped her is a part of the government. ” Sharansky, imprisoned on spy charges for nine years and more recently a minister and chair of the Jewish Agency, is familiar with the kidnapping of Tsurkov. “Together with her father I spent a lot of years in Soviet prison. In my book Fear No Evil about the prison you can read a lot about him. Her father and mother were political prisoners in the Soviet Union from a very young age.”
Now their daughter is being held in Iraq. “To the best of our knowledge - she is alive,” he said. “The Iraqi government is responsible. The Iraqi government receives much financial assistance from America. Liza [Tsurkov] came for research from Princeton University and was very positive toward the people of Iraq and the Muslim world in general. It is legitimate and natural to expect the US administration to exploit their relations with the Iraqi government.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Shia’ al-Sudani is discussing US-Iraq relations at the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday in New York City in the context of the United Nations General Assembly meeting. The Iraqi leader’s presence has been spotlighted because of the Tsurkov affair.
PBS (the Public Broadcasting Service) hosted a discussion about Tsurkov last week, noting she has been missing for six months. “She was conducting research for her doctoral degree in Baghdad when she was believed to have been kidnapped by an Iraqi militia. Amna Nawaz spoke with her sister, Emma Tsurkov, about efforts to bring her home.”
Sudani has not addressed calls for Baghdad to find and release Tsurkov, but met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in New York this week and invited him to visit Iraq, in appreciation for “NATO’s support in the fight against ISIS, military training, advice, and capacity building,” according to a statement posted on social media by Iraq’s government.
Sudani has also met with White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett Mcgurk on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
“They discussed overall relations between Iraq and the United States and ways to strengthen and develop them at various levels and fields, in a way that serves the interests of the two friendly nations,” the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office said in a statement.
Calls from congress for Tsurkov's release
The Iraqi leader also met with Kuwaiti and Iranian delegations.The Associated Press noted in an article that Emma Tsurkov has called for more pressure to get her sister released. “The United States should use its influence,” to secure her release “by an Iran-backed militia regarded by Washington as a terrorist group,” she told the Associated Press. “The current level of pressure is unsatisfactory. It’s just not enough... My sister is languishing at the hands of this terror organization. And it’s been almost six months.”
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