For persecuted Mideast Christians, Obama is tongue-tied on genocide

While Christians in Iraq and Syria face the threat of extinction at the hands of the Islamic State, the U.S. State Department remains silent on the prospect of publicly designating the atrocities against Christians and other Mideast religious minorities as “genocide.”

According to a report by journalist Michael Isikoff, the State Department may recognize the Yazidi people as genocide victims, but a question that remains is: Will other religious minorities be included in the Obama administration’s designation?

“Scholars and experts are in consensus regarding the term ‘genocide’ being applied to both Christians and Yazidis alike. …We need to ensure that all groups being persecuted by Islamic extremism are being treated equally under Article 2 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” said Mark Arabo, an American spokesman for the Middle East’s Chaldean Catholic community and a human rights activist.

Villages that have had Christian presence for centuries have virtually become ghost towns as a majority of Mideast Christians have been forced to flee, convert, or be murdered. Even Christian families who chose the option of paying the jizya—an Islamic tax on non-Muslims—had to hand their wives over to the Islamic State terrorists.

Charles Hayes, an expert on religious freedom and vice president of the Newseum Institute in Washington, told JNS.org that the designation of genocide for Christians is “long overdue.”

“If the State Department issues a genocide designation for Yazidis, that would be a step forward—but it is not enough. Invoking genocide is a serious action and should only be done when conditions are most dire. That’s where we are now in Iraq and Syria. It is time to call what is happening to Yazidis, Christians and others what it is: genocide,” Hayes said.

David Brog, a board member of Christians United for Israel, called the persecution of Mideast Christians “the great human rights tragedy of our time.”