If you have information about the kidnapping of Elizabeth Tsurkov, please email us at freeelizabeth7@gmail.com

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We are the family of Elizabeth Tsurkov – our Liza. She has been kidnapped in Iraq and we are desperate to bring her home safely.

We created this website to tell her story and ask for help from people who care for her, those who value academic and journalistic freedom, the media, and government officials.

Please, we need your help.

About Elizabeth

Elizabeth is the one in our family who challenges everything. She has a lust for learning and a desire to make the world a better place. Elizabeth traveled to Iraq multiple times to conduct fieldwork for her dissertation in political science at Princeton University. Elizabeth’s research, approved and funded by Princeton, focuses on sectarianism in the Middle East and ways to reduce conflict. On her last trip, she had to have emergency spinal surgery.

Just a few days after – on March 21, 2023 – she was kidnapped in the Karrada neighborhood of Baghdad, still with stiches in her back. We know she is being held by Kataib Hezbollah, a Shi’a militia whose members are often Iraqi government employees – through the PMF

But Kataib Hezbollah has not contacted us to ask for anything. They released a proof of life video of Elizabeth in November 2023 and we are hopeful they will find a way to contact us so we can find a way to bring Elizabeth home safely.

Proof Of Life Video

Posted November 2023

Why Should the US Care?

Elizabeth is not a US citizen. She holds citizenship with Russia (where she was born) and Israel (where her parents migrated), but she is a US ‘interest.’ She is a resident of New Jersey and is enrolled at Princeton, a prestigious US university. She was conducting fieldwork in Iraq for her approved and funded dissertation when she was kidnapped.
Elizabeth is both an academic and a journalist. She has worked with numerous think tanks and published countless articles in The Guardian, The Jerusalem Post, Foreign Policy, Ha’aretz, Middle East Eye, New Lines, The New Humanitarian, The New Statesman, The New Republic, the Atlantic Council, and others. Having her kidnapped while engaged in field research for her approved dissertation for Princeton is reason enough for the US to take action on her behalf.
The group that kidnapped Elizabeth, Kataib Hezbollah, is a designated terrorist group that is de facto funded using US taxpayer dollars. The US gives security assistance to the Iraqi government. They fund the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an Iraq government coalition of militias. Kataib Hezbollah is the dominant militia within the PMF. So Iraq is acting as an undesignated state sponsor of terrorism and they are doing it with US taxpayer dollars.
The same group that kidnapped Elizabeth has been targeting Americans since at least late 2022. They are implicated in the attempted kidnapping of one American that turned into his murder, the disappearance of another American, and multiple attacks on US military forces in Iraq, Syria and Jordan.

Support For Elizabeth in Congress and Beyond

“Ms. Tsurkov is vocal and passionate about finding ways to foster peace in the Middle East, a region that she has studied and has written about in numerous publications. Despite the instability in the region, she bravely pursued her calling based on her conviction that there are concrete pathways to peace and security for the region… As champions of academic freedom, prisoners of conscience and hostages all over the world seeking release from captivity, we are sending this letter in the hopes that the [State] Department can continue to take advantage of all opportunities to resolve her case expeditiously and safely return Ms. Tsurkov to her family and friends. “ - Representatives Jamie Raskin (MD-8), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Eric Swalwell (CA-14), James P. McGovern (MA-2), Adam Schiff (CA-30), Katie Porter (CA-47), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Dina Titus (NV-1), André Carson (IN-7), Brad Sherman (CA-32), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-6), Andy Kim (NJ-3), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Donald Norcross (NJ-1), Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO-5), April 2024

Read the full letter here

“Troublingly, a U.S.-based doctoral student at Princeton University, Elizabeth Tsurkov, has also been held captive by KH since March 21, 2023, when she was in Baghdad conducting field work for her dissertation. In November 2023, KH produced a proof of life video of Ms. Tsurkov looking terrified while being forced to read a script written by her kidnappers. In more than a year of captivity, the Iraqi government has done nothing of substance to help free her… If you [President Biden] meet with Prime Minister Sudani regardless, Kataib Hezbollah and Ms. Tsurkov’s release should be at the top of your agenda.” - Representatives Michael Waltz (FL-6), Joe Wilson (SC-2), Keith Self (TX-3), Thomas H. Kean Jr. (NJ-7), Greg Steube (FL-17), April 2024

Read the full letter here

“In July 2023, the Government of Iraq announced that it was launching an investigation into this matter. However, the outcome of this investigation and what steps the government has been taking to secure Ms Tsurkov’s release have not been made public. We call on you [the Government of Iraq] to publish the outcome of this investigation, release the information you hold regarding Ms Tsurkov’s disappearance, detail the steps you have thus far taken in response to her capture, and redouble your efforts to ensure her immediate release from captivity.” - British Society for Middle East Studies, March 2024

Read the full letter here

“Earlier this month, the Iraqi government opened an investigation into Elizabeth’s kidnapping, more than three months after she disappeared. The slow response and limited assurances of her safety are deeply concerning. To that end, I urge the Department to diligently work with the Iraqi government in coordination with our Israeli allies to ensure that Elizabeth is released and returned home as soon as possible.” - Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-14), September 2023

Read the full letter here

“The Facts are simple: Elizabeth was in Iraq to conduct research for her Princeton dissertation when she was abducted by Kataeb Hezbollah simply because she is Jewish and Israeli. Suggestions to the contrary are not only patently false, they are dangerous. We therefore urge the Administration to use our close and abiding relationship with Iraq to raise Elizabeth’s abduction and call for her release at every opportunity and level.” - Senators Booker and Menendez, September 2023

Read the full letter here

Why Should Iraq Help?

Elizabeth is a guest in Iraq. She entered on a legitimate passport with an Iraqi visa. She was doing legitimate doctoral research. She learned Arabic before coming, and respected local customs and religious traditions. It is against all traditions of caring for guests that the Iraqi government has let this happen and tolerated it being unresolved for so long.
Kataib Hezbollah, which is holding Elizabeth, has targeted Americans – in fact, we believe kidnapping Elizabeth was one of a series of actions focused on the US. Between late 2022 and mid-2023, American citizen Stephen Troell was killed during a failed kidnapping attempt – with the incident occurring very close to where Elizabeth was taken shortly after, and American citizen George Mason was removed from an Iraqi jail, with his whereabouts being sought on the FBI website. The same group has been engaged in attacks on US forces in Iraq, and on several recent occasions, US forces have fired at their forces inside Iraq.
Iraq receives substantial financial assistance from the US government, most of which comes in the form of US security assistance. A large portion of this goes to fund the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an Iraqi government entity that coordinates a group of militias. The dominant militia within the PMF is Kataib Hezbollah, which was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US government in July 2009. Essentially, Iraq is using US tax dollars to support a designated terrorist group that targets Americans.
The Iraqi Embassy has recently hired the following three Washington, DC firms to help them improve Iraq’s image with Congress and the Biden Administration.
- Squire Patton Boggs, $780,000 per year
- Valcour, $540,000 per year
- Cogent Strategies, $310,000 per year
They don’t seem to understand that the US government is not going to be bought and sold when the life of an innocent woman – a US-based academic and a journalist – is at stake, and Iraq has the ability to help her. Instead of paying lobbyists, how about working to bring Elizabeth home to her family?

How Can You Help?

Please write to Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman Senator Cardin, Ranking Member Senator Risch, and majority members Senator Booker and Senator Menendez. and let them know that you want the United States government to call for Elizabeth’s release and work with the Iraqi government to ensure her freedom. We’ve included suggested email text below, but please feel free to express why you’re calling for Elizabeth’s release in your own words. If you have a personal relationship with the senator, please mention it. By personal relationship, we mean that you are their constituent/ donor/ supporter/ volunteer, etc.

Bring Elizabeth Tsurkov Home

Dear [Member of Congress],

I am asking you to call for Elizabeth Tsurkov’s release. Elizabeth is a graduate student at Princeton University who was kidnapped in Baghdad in March 2023 by an Iranian-backed terror organization, Kataib Hezbollah. Elizabeth is a well-known academic and journalist with deep expertise on Iraq. A proof-of-life video was released in November 2023.

Elizabeth’s kidnappers are indirectly benefiting from US military assistance, which, as a taxpayer, I find outrageous. The group holding her, Kataib Hezbollah (KH), is a designated terrorist organization that has targeted American civilians and, more recently, military personnel. KH is able to act with impunity because it dominates the Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi government-sanctioned umbrella organization composed of militias. The PMF is funded by the Iraqi government, which in turn is largely funded by US taxpayer dollars. Therefore, the United States government has both the responsibility and the leverage to work with the Iraqi government to bring Elizabeth home and hold KH accountable.

Please tell the Iraqi Government and Embassy to stop funding the terrorist group KH and to make Elizabeth’s safe return a priority.