One Year Since the Kidnapping of Elizabeth Tsurkov
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2024
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One year ago, Elizabeth Tsurkov, a graduate student at Princeton University, was abducted by the terrorist organization Kata'ib Hezbollah in Baghdad, where she was doing fieldwork. Since that day, her sister, Emma Tsurkov, has been campaigning for and seeking her release.
On Thursday, Emma Tsurkov held a rally outside the Iraqi embassy, demanding action to free her sister. Afterward, she sat down with Lawfare Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes to discuss her sister's very upsetting case. Who is Kata'ib Hezbollah, and why are they holding hostage an Israeli graduate student? Who is Elizabeth Tsurkov, and how did she come to be in Baghdad in the first place? Which government is responsible for securing her release? And why does the United States keep providing military aid to a government that is in bed with Kata'ib Hezbollah, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
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| 0:16.4 | slash Lawfair. Also check out Lawfair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, lawfare no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:30.0 | They kept shouting at me, come back Paula. I didn't hear them because the sound from the dam was so loud. |
| 0:39.0 | A mining damper sending toxic water pouring down over homes. |
| 0:42.8 | 19 people were killed and the river polluted. |
| 0:45.3 | I'm Liz Bonin and this is Dead River. |
| 0:48.3 | The story of the Fundau Dam collapse, |
| 0:51.1 | Brazil's worst environmental disaster on record. |
| 0:54.6 | We lost everything that day. |
| 0:56.7 | Subscribe to Dead River wherever you get your podcast to hear new episodes as they're released. She lived, it's a karate neighborhood for those listeners who know it. It's considered a very safe neighborhood. |
| 1:18.7 | In Baghdad, it's full of Iraqi police. There are a lot of Westerners, there are Bosley markets. It's considered a very safe area. |
| 1:28.3 | She went to a coffee shop and never came back. |
| 1:32.3 | I'm Benjamin Wittis and this is the Law Fair Podcast, March 25th, 2024. |
| 1:39.0 | One year ago, Elizabeth Serkov, a graduate student at Princeton University, was abducted in Baghdad |
| 1:47.4 | where she was doing field work by the terrorist organization Katib Hezbollah. |
| 1:53.4 | Since that day her sister, Emmatsurkof, has been campaigning for and seeking her release. |
| 2:01.9 | On Thursday, Emmett Sirkoff held a rally outside the Iraqi embassy demanding action to free her sister. |
| 2:12.0 | Afterwards, she joined me in the virtual jungle studio to discuss her sister's very upsetting case. |
| 2:20.0 | Who is did she come to be in Baghdad in the first place? Which government is responsible for securing |
| 2:36.8 | her release? Is it the Israelis, the Russians, or is it the United States's job? And why does the United States keep |
... |
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