After brutal torture and 2.5 years of captivity, Israeli-Russian researcher is grateful to survive

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

58% : At the U.S. Embassy, she had an ecstatic video chat with her family before returning to Israel.
40% : Iraqi militias targeted U.S. forces in the region after the Oct. 7 attack because of Washington's support for Israel, but that largely stopped after a U.S. retaliatory attack killed a high-ranking Kataib Hezbollah commander.
40% : Suffering a third generation incarceration Tsurkov, who was born in Russia, moved to Israel around age 4.
40% : Israel also invested "great efforts and many resources" to help secure Tsurkov's release, said an Israeli official who was not authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
39% : Tsurkov's release came after Israel decimated many of Iran's proxies and hit Iran hard during a devastating 12-day war, a campaign so intense that Tsurkov said she felt the building shake where she was held over the border in Iraq.
38% : Now she is recovering in Israel as Iraqis head to the polls Tuesday for a parliamentary election that includes candidates linked to the militia Tsurkov says kidnapped her, Kataib Hezbollah.
33% : TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- Ta'aliq -- "to hang" in Arabic -- is Iraqi slang for the torture device that hoists victims into the air, their hands handcuffed above their heads.
29% : A $600 million ransom demanded Israelis are prohibited by law from traveling to Iraq, which Israel classifies as an "enemy country.
28% : As she was recuperating in Israel, Tsurkov said Savaya told her he had warned Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani during a meeting to release her or the Trump administration would attack Kataib Hezbollah.
25% : ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Hopes for release plummeted after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, when Tsurkov became just one of over 250 hostages of concern to Israel.

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