It was released for publication on Wednesday evening by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office that an Israeli citizen was kidnapped and is being held hostage in Baghdad by a Shiite militia. Elizabeth Tzurkov, a Russian-Israeli citizen, was visiting Iraq with her Russian passport to carry out academic research for her doctorate from Princeton University and was kidnapped four months ago by Kata’ib Hezbollah, a Shia militia tied to the Iranian-supported Hezbollah organization. The Prime Minister Office’s issued a statement on Wednesday stating: “Elizabeth Tsurkov is an Israeli-Russian dual citizen who has been missing in Iraq for several months and is being held by the Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah.” “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.” “The matter is being handled by the relevant parties in the State of Israel out of concern for Elizabeth Tsurkov’s security and well-being.” Tsurkov served as an IDF soldier and used to work for Natan Sharansky. Sharanky told Ynet: “I’ve been following her fate with great concern for several months now. This is an excellent girl who grew up in Israel. She immigrated to Israel from St. Petersburg with her parents when she was five years old. She did research on women’s rights in the Middle East on behalf of Princeton University.” Tsurkov, about 37 years old, studied international relations and communications at the Hebrew University for a bachelor’s degree, and Middle Eastern studies and political science at the University of Chicago for a master’s degree. According to a past interview with Ha’aretz, she grew up in Gush Etzion, and changed her views in adulthood. According to the interview, the center of her life in recent years is with the objects of her research – Syrian and Iraqi change activists, Kurds and Yazidis, Sunnis and Shiites. “I am a doctoral student at Princeton University on class and nationalism in the Middle East, with an emphasis on countries that have experienced civil wars and have ethnic diversity, such as Syria, Iraq and Lebanon,” she said. “But I think that research for the sake of research alone has no significant benefit for humanity, so I try to illustrate the meaning of living in the shadows, wars, and oppression for the local population.” “I am a researcher at a forum for regional thinking that tries to present the Middle East in a more complex way, which is also based on direct contact with people in the various countries, in an attempt to present a picture that is a little more complex than what you hear on TV.” According to an interview she gave about four years ago, it appears that she previously visited enemy countries. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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