Members of the Palestinian Prisoners Committee hold a rally outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Gaza City on July 17, 2023, demanding the Iraqi government to include Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in the exchange for Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov.
Majdi Fathi | Nurphoto | Getty Images
An Israeli-Russian graduate student from Princeton University in New Jersey who was kidnapped by a Shiite militia in Iraq in 2023 has been released from captivity and is now in U.S. custody, President Donald Trump and the student’s family said on Tuesday.
Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped by the militia Kataib Hezbollah during a research trip to Iraq in March 2023, according to officials.
Trump said on social media that Tsurkov “is now safely in the American Embassy in Iraq after being tortured for many months.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for his help in gaining Tsurkov’s release, a senior U.S. official said.
The release came days after Trump signed an executive order paving the way for the U.S. to designate countries around the world as state sponsors of wrongful detention and impose punitive measures on those it deems are wrongfully holding Americans.
Global Reach, a nonprofit that works for the release of Americans held in captivity abroad, said in a statement that Tsurkov had received a medical assessment at the embassy.
Emma Tsurkov, one of Elizabeth’s sisters, said in the statement her family was thankful to the Trump administration for helping secure her release.
“We cannot wait to see Elizabeth and give her all the love we have been waiting to share for 903 days,” Emma Tsurkov said.
In a statement on social media confirming Tsurkov’s release, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said: “We reaffirm once again that we will not be lenient in enforcing the law and upholding the authority of the state, and we will not allow anyone to tarnish the reputation of Iraq and Iraqis.”
Under the administration of former President Joe Biden, Tsurkov’s family struggled to get Washington to throw its weight behind efforts to secure her release. U.S. officials then said there was little they could do because she is not an American citizen.
A Trump administration hostage negotiator traveled to Iraq in February to push for Tsurkov’s release, according to sources.
