Shafaq News – Baghdad (Updated on September 14 at 15:12)

The release of Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov is a “courageous message” from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani toward normalizing ties with Israel, politician Mithal al-Alusi said on Sunday.

On X, al-Alusi addressed the prime minister directly, noting that his announcement of Tsurkov’s release was received with “relief” by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He urged al-Sudani to abandon earlier remarks about confronting Israel, warning that Iraq had “grown weary of the bravado of the corrupt.”

Al-Sudani confirmed Tsurkov’s release on Tuesday, pledging that Iraq would uphold the rule of law and protect its reputation. Trump expressed satisfaction with the outcome, while Netanyahu declared that “all of Israel is happy to see her back home.”

Tsurkov, a doctoral researcher affiliated with Princeton and Stanford universities, disappeared in Baghdad in March 2023 while conducting fieldwork. She was widely believed to have been held by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned armed faction sanctioned by Washington, though the group denied involvement in her abduction.