On Thursday, July 16 – 2015, Gill Rosenberg, a Canadian-Israeli woman who joined Kurdish militant fighting the Islamic State, returned to Israel last week and held her first press conference today at the Jerusalem Press Club. She explained why she left Tel Aviv to join Kurdish forces in Iraq and why Iran’s role in the conflict led her to return.
Gill Rosenberg (born 1983) moved to Israel from Canada and became an Israeli citizen. She joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a volunteer, from 2006 to 2008. In 2014 she went to Syria and joined the Kurdish forces fighting ISIL. There were rumors that Rosenberg had been captured by ISIL, along with several other female fighters, during the Siege of Kobanî. These rumors were denied by Kurdish officials. Moti Kahana, an Israeli-American businessman, persuaded her to return to Israel.
