Israeli woman who fought Daesh in Syria, Iraq returns to Israel

The young Israeli-Canadian woman who stirred both controversy and admiration by leaving her comfortable life in Tel Aviv and taking up the fight against Daesh, returned to Israel on Monday after almost a year in Iraq and Syria, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Gill Rosenberg, 31, originally from Vancouver, shed light on the reasons she joined the Kuridsh Perhsmerga forces, telling Army Radio that "we Jews always say of the Holocaust - never again. In my opinion that's true not only for the Jews, but for all mankind - and especially for the women and children in Syria and Iraq."

"I saw children and women raped, murdered and sold into sexual slavery because of their religion," Rosenberg explained, adding that she felt that she had to do something about it.

Using Facebook, Rosenberg initially made contact with the Kurdish forces, who instructed her on how to reach them in Iraq.

"I went to Jordan and from there I flew to Erbil, which is in Iraq," she revealed.

"From there I made contact with a number of Western volunteers on Facebook and they sent someone to collect me."

Rosenberg explained that she could not be fully transparent with all of her Kurdish comrades about her Jewish identity, despite it being one of the main drivers of her expedition to the war-torn region.

"The Kurds love Israel and the Jewish people, but there were locals that were possibly not so supportive," Rosenberg said.

"My commanders told me to be discreet about my Jewishness and just to say that I was Canadian."