Obama: Declare ISIS' slaughter 'genocide'

I am often asked, "Why did you choose South Sudan to do work in?" I reply that I knew so many Holocaust survivors when I grew up that South Sudan, being the largest ethnic genocide since the end of World War II, felt familiar and I understood the personal pain people were experiencing.

It is easy to say, "Let's not let any Syrians into the U.S." Most people are unaware that Syria had well over one million Christians before the conflict and that Christmas was a widely celebrated holiday in Syria. With ISIS now having so much land and influence in the region, there is no place for any group, Christian, Yezidi, or even a different form of Islam, apart from what ISIS allows.

This week, the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Global Human Rights under the direction of Chairman Chris Smith, R-N.J., conducted a hearing on the Christian and Yezidi genocide. It was an important hearing, as more than half of the refugees we are seeing in Europe and other countries are from Syria, according the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR.

We are often asked why these people don't just stay in refugee camps that have been set up. It is a matter of resources and ethnic safety. According to the UNHCR, the main reason people leave the safe haven of these camps is there are no resources, as UNHCR only received 47 percent of needed funding from U.N. member countries this year. There are now 3.8 million people who have left Syria for the safety of Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. In terms of money, only $1.17 billion of the $2.89 billion has been received, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

It is not just conflict in Syria causing these people to leave; it is ISIS taking over areas and perpetrating horrible violence. Chairman Smith mentioned a report by the United States Holocaust Museum titled, "Bearing Witness."

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The report, which cited interviews with people who had left ISIS-controlled areas, stated, "Based upon the public record and private eyewitness accounts, we believe the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) perpetrated crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing against Christian, Yezidi, Turkmen, Shabak, Sabaean-Mandaean, and Kaka'i people in Ninevah province between June and August 2014. In our interviews, we heard accounts of the forcible transfer of populations, severe deprivation of physical liberty, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, and murder perpetrated in a widespread and systematic manner that indicates a deliberate plan to target religious and ethnic minorities. Some specific communities – notably the Yezidi, but also Shia Shabak and Shia Turkman – were targeted for attack."

Documents that were later released under the Freedom of Information Act show then-President Bill Clinton knew about the genocide in Rawanda but refused to call it genocide, as that would have had immediate effects that came with great responsibilities. In addition, a then-Democrat member of Congress went to President Clinton and asked him to declare Rwanda genocide, but he did not. Clinton later said his decision was a mistake.

Now, President Obama is being asked to declare ISIS' massacres as genocide, but he too has been silent. There is talk of declaring the murders of Yezidis as genocide, but not that of Christians.

At Chairman Smith's hearing, a leader of the Yezidis' human rights organization said, "During our 6,000-year history, Yezidis have faced 74 genocides in the Middle East, including the ongoing genocide. Why? Simply because we are not Muslims. We are an ancient and proud people from the heart of Mesopotamia, the birthplace of civilization and the birthplace of many of the world's religions. And here we are today, in 2015, on the verge of annihilation. In response to our suffering, around the world there is profound, obscene silence. We Yezidis are considered 'infidels' in the eyes of Muslims, and so they are encouraged to kill, rape, enslave, and convert us."

The supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus also testified that Christians are being targeted in unnamed genocide: "Like the region's other refugee communities, the vulnerable Christian minority is striving to survive devastating conflicts – in which, it should be noted, the Christian communities have not taken up arms for any side. In addition, like the Jews in Nazi Germany, these Christians are escaping genocide. They are being specifically targeted because they put their faith in Jesus Christ."

Why is there not a declaration of genocide? Why are we hearing so much about the possibility of terrorists embedding with refugees but not about what is clearly a genocide of Yezidis and Christians? It is time for the Obama administration to speak up, declare genocide and act on it.

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