My kids are playing on the grass with their grandparents, a rare treat since we live in Jerusalem. One of my oldest friends, Liza — Elizabeth Tsurkov — is being held by a militia in Iraq, and I’m terrified. Liza, a Russian-Israeli doctoral student at Princeton University, traveled to Iraq this winter to conduct field work for her research into human rights and sectarianism in the Middle East. Liza used her Russian passport to travel to Iraq, but she knew that entering the country as a dual Russian-Israeli citizen could put her in danger. It was an idea that drove her research and human rights work, which had already taken her into war-ravaged Syria and post-ISIS Iraq.

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Persons: Liza — Elizabeth Tsurkov —, “ She’s, Liza, Natan Sharansky Organizations: Princeton University, Hezbollah, ISIS Locations: Los Angeles, Jerusalem, Iraq, Russian, Baghdad, Iran, Syria, ISIS Iraq, Soviet Union