Where is Gill Rosenberg? Islamists claim Canadian kidnapped by ISIS, but Kurdish militia says ‘she is safe’

     

Gill Rosenberg, 31, has attracted a folk following since she claimed on social media to have joined Kurdish fighters, who are among the few forces that encourage women to fight.

Credit: National Post

Ottawa is investigating reports that a Canadian-Israeli women who claims to have joined Kurdish military forces has been captured by ISIS terrorists. Experts, however, are casting doubt on the report, fearing it amounts to ISIS propaganda.

Gill Rosenberg, 31, has attracted a folk following since she claimed on social media to have joined Kurdish fighters, who are among the few forces that encourage women to fight.

On Sunday, rumours stoked by Islamist-friendly websites began to spread suggesting that Ms. Rosenberg had been captured. 

A day earlier, a pro-ISIS contributor posted to an online forum that fighters in Kobani had captured a “female Zionist soldier,” according to the SITE Intelligence Group. Jihadi sympathizers suggested the captive might be Ms. Rosenberg, and went on to list ways to deal with the woman, ranging from exchanging her for Muslim prisoners, to forcing a Muslim woman to execute her.

Several Israeli media picked up on the account, but so far no confirmation has been provided. Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that it was following up on the reports about Ms. Rosenberg, who is from White Rock, B.C. However, a department spokesman did not confirm that she had been captured.

“Canada is pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information and officials are in close contact with local authorities,” said Nicolas Doire. “[Foreign Affairs] advises against all travel to Syria and Iraq because of the extremely volatile security situation and Canada’s limited ability to provide assistance to its citizens there, and have done so for several years. Furthermore, we advise that Canadians in these countries should leave.”