US Congressman Abraham Hamadeh (R-AZ) met with members of the family of Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israel-Russian researcher who has been held in Iraq for more than two years.
“Yesterday, I met with her siblings who are tirelessly work[ing] for her freedom. It’s time [for ] Iraq [to] step up and rein in Kataib Hezbollah and secure her release,” Hamadeh wrote in a post on X/Twitter on Saturday. She was conducting research in Baghdad for her doctoral studies at Princeton University when she was kidnapped.
Hamadeh noted, “In March 2023, Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped in Iraq by Kataib Hezbollah – an Iranian proxy embedded in Iraq’s forces.” His comments come amid an increasing spotlight on Tsurkov being held illegally in Iraq and a push to get the authorities in Iraq to free her from her kidnappers. US President Donald Trump’s then-special hostage envoy nominee, Adam Boehler, traveled to Iraq in February, according to Reuters, to press for Tsurkov’s freedom.
Emma Tsurkov, Elizabeth’s sister, thanked Hamadeh in a post on X. “Thank you, Congressman Abe Hamadeh, for your kindness and attention to our sister’s unjust captivity! Meeting leaders like you, who are determined to eliminate the threats in the region to the American way of life, gives our family hope to see Elizabeth Tsurkov home,” she wrote.
Hamadeh told The Jerusalem Post, “Elizabeth has the best advocates in her brother and sister that anyone could ever ask for, and I’m humbled to join them. She is no longer the ‘forgotten hostage.’ Elizabeth’s barbaric, inhumane treatment must end.”
The congressman from Arizona added, “The Biden era of complacency is over. Our allies cannot fund Iran’s proxies with our tax dollars and stand by while they torture an innocent hostage. I am committed to working with our partners to bring the captives home.”
The Israeli abducted in Iraq
Her kidnapping in March 2023 was not initially widely known. That July, the Prime Minister’s Office put out a statement noting, “Elizabeth Tsurkov is an Israeli-Russian dual citizen who has been missing in Iraq for several months and is being held by the Shi’ite militia Kataib Hezbollah.”
The PMO added, “Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive, and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being. She is an academic who visited Iraq on her Russian passport, at her own initiative, pursuant to work on her doctorate and academic research on behalf of Princeton University in the US.”
After the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Kataib Hezbollah made a video of Tsurkov in captivity and sent it to local media. Since Trump won the presidential election, there has been an increased spotlight on her case, and Iraq’s government has claimed several times in recent months that it is trying to locate her.
However, this is complicated by the fact that Kataib Hezbollah is not only an Iranian proxy but is part of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units, a group of pro-Iranian militias that also serve as an official paramilitary group in Iraq. In recent months, there has been talk in Iraq of reining in these groups, especially Kataib Hezbollah, which has close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force in Iran.