Sister of Israeli hostage in Iraq says Biden Administration ‘kept showering officials with cash’

Emma Tsurkov to Trump: ‘Thank God a tough leader with a backbone of steel is in the White House and has stopped playing games. Mr. President, only you can bring my sister home!’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Emma Tsurkov, the sister of hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov, criticized the Biden administration and corrupt Iraqi officials for the lack of progress in securing her sister’s release.

“It’s been 687 days since my sister Elizabeth, a Princeton student, was kidnapped in Baghdad—687 days of incompetence and inaction by the Iraqi prime minister,” Tsurkov wrote.

“The Biden administration has kept showering corrupt Iraqi officials with hundreds of millions of our taxpayer dollars without accountability. Thank God a tough leader with a backbone of steel is in the White House and has stopped playing games. Mr. President, only you can bring my sister home!” she added.

Elizabeth Tsurkov, a researcher specializing in the Middle East at Princeton University, traveled to Iraq on her Russian passport to conduct research for her doctoral dissertation.

However, Israeli citizens are prohibited from traveling to enemy nations, even with a foreign passport, due to security concerns.

She has been held hostage by a Shia militia in Iraq since 2023.

Tsurkov’s family said they spoke with her the day before she was captured and that nothing seemed unusual.

“We talked the day before the kidnapping—a completely normal and standard conversation about the interviews she had done and what was left for her to complete,” they said.

Last week, the British website Amwaj reported that, in exchange for Tsurkov, Israel would release eight Hezbollah terrorists captured since the beginning of the conflict with Lebanon.

One of the terrorists slated for release is Imad Ahmaz, a senior member of Hezbollah’s naval force, who was captured three months earlier in a special operation by Shayetet 13.

Last week, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told Axios that Tsurkov is still alive after two years in captivity and that Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani is working toward her release.

In a September 2023 interview, the Iraqi prime minister said it was unclear who was responsible for abducting Tsurkov.

“The incident damages the reputation of Iraq’s stability and the capabilities of our security agencies,” he said.

Biden AdministrationElizabeth TsurkovIraq