Canadian feared captured by Islamic State fighters
The federal government is investigating reports that a Canadian-Israeli woman who claims to have joined Kurdish military forces has been captured by Islamic State terrorists. However, experts have cast doubt on the report, fearing it amounts to ISIL propaganda.
Gill Rosenberg, the woman allegedly captured, has attracted a following since she claimed on social media to have joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, an attack force known for being one of the few that encourage women to fight.
Rosenberg, 31, is believed to be one of very few western females to have joined the fight.
Alex Konyves, an old friend of Rosenberg’s, said he was alarmed to hear that she may have been captured in Syria.
“I have trouble wrapping my head around that.
“We live in beautiful British Columbia, where everything is safe and lovely. I pray that she’s OK and that these rumours are completely false, and that she’ll be back in a safe place as soon as possible,” he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development confirmed it was following up on the reports about Rosenberg.
A spokesperson said that Canada “is pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information and officials are in close contact with local authorities.”
Messages of concern and disbelief were posted Sunday on Rosenberg’s Facebook page, where some friends claimed that reports of her capture were false.
In her last Facebook post, Rosenberg said she would not have Internet access until the week of Dec. 8.
Konyves said he grew up with Rosenberg in White Rock, B.C., and attended Hebrew school with her beginning at age five.
“We hung out every Sunday,” he said.
“It’s always nice to have someone to have crack jokes with in that setting, and she was definitely one of those people.”
Though he lost touch with her in high school, Konyves’s strongest memories of Rosenberg are of that dry, cutting sense of humour.
But she also had a serious side, announcing in her bat mitzvah speech at age 12 that she planned to join the military to defend Israel.
“From a young age, she was interested in joining the air force,” Konyves said.
According to her Facebook profile, Rosenberg studied aviation at British Columbia Institute of Technology after attending King David High School in Vancouver, and then went on to join the Israel Defense Forces. She lists Tel Aviv, Israel, as her home.
In 2009, she was extradited to the United States after she was arrested in connection with a lottery scam that targeted the elderly, according to a report from Reuters news service.
She served about three years in prison as part of a plea bargain.
More recently, Reuters reported, she gave an interview to Israel radio claiming to have travelled to Iraq with Kurdish fighters.
She said she had plans to fight in Syria, calling the Kurds “our brothers.”
Some experts on the region have cast doubt on the Islamist claims that Rosenberg has been captured, noting several incongruities in the reports.
“So far, the story seems to be not true,” said Wladimir van Wilgenburg, an analyst for the Jamestown Foundation. “The fact is that Rosenberg is not in Kobani, she did not go to Turkey (from which you can enter Kobani).”
Van Wilgenburg said that if she was captured, it would have been near the fighting in the border region of Serikaniye, or Ras al-Ain.