Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov in Istanbul, May 26, 2017. (Credit: Ahmad Mohamad/AFP)
In a joint interview broadcast Thursday with her sister and the U.S. envoy tasked with negotiating for hostages, Adam Boehler, Elizabeth Tsurkov recounted her sudden release, confirming that neither the United States nor Israel made any concessions to secure her freedom, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Thursday.
Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian researcher, also denied that Lebanese Hezbollah members had been released in exchange, including Imad Amhaz, abducted by Israelis in Batroun (northern Lebanon) during a commando operation on Nov. 3, 2024, at the height of the war between Israel and the militia. "They said he was released. But where is he? He is still in prison," she said, as quoted by the paper.
Adam Boehler, for his part, insisted that the militia "got nothing from the United States" and that, to his knowledge, Israel had made no concessions. "They got nothing from the United States. I don't think Israel gave them anything," he declared.
Abducted in March 2023 in Iraq by the Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, the researcher said that her detention felt like "a succession of humiliations" by her captors, who initially thought they had apprehended "a double agent, from Mossad or the CIA."
Eventually released without any concessions being demanded from the United States or Israel, her release did not allow the Iraqi group to obtain anything in return.
According to Haaretz, Emma Tsurkov stated that she had contacted Adam Boehler to seek her sister's release. "He was extremely kind and very surprised by the situation," she explained, emphasizing that his approach was different from what was seen under the Biden administration.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Boehler then traveled to Iraq to seek the support of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, even though Tsurkov does not hold American citizenship.
He reportedly referred the case to the Iraqi authorities, who, in turn, relayed it to Tehran, opening the way for a swift resolution. The researcher's release was finally confirmed in September, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his social network that Tsurkov was "now safe at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq," after allegedly being tortured for several months.
