Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog: Congress to Obama: Label ISIS attacks against Christians “genocide.”

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Congress to Obama: Label ISIS attacks against Christians “genocide.” Here’s the latest. by joelcrosenberg "The evidence is in, and it’s chilling — the Islamic State is intentionally waging a war of genocide against Christians in Iraq and Syria. The jihadists are systematically trying to exterminate the Christian population in both countries by forcing followers of Jesus Christ to convert to their brand of Apocalyptic Islam or enslaving them, murdering them, starving them, and/or driving them out of the region." Readers of this blog may recall I wrote this in a January 23 column, "ISIS waging war of genocide against Christians in the Mideast. New UN report provides chilling details." To its shame, the Obama administration still refuses to name what ISIS is doing against Christians, Muslims and Yezidis genocide. The administration is legally mandated to make a determination by March 17th on whether what ISIS is doing is genocide, notes the U.K. Daily Mail. To its credit, the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan resolution declaring it genocide. It passed 383 to zero. "The House of Representatives on Monday unanimously passed a resolution labeling the ISIS atrocities against Christian groups in Syria and Iraq 'genocide,' a term the State Department been reluctant to use about the attacks and mass murders by the terror group," reported CNN. Let us pray that the Senate soon follows suit, and the President, as well. Let us also pray that the U.S. government will demonstrate bipartisan resolve to strengthen our alliance with Sunni Arab nations like Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates and intensify military action to crush ISIS and liberate northern Iraq. As I portray in The Third Target and The First Hostage, the leaders of the Islamic State believe they are required by Allah to commit genocide to accelerate the coming of the Mahdi, the establishment of their Caliphate, and the End of Days. They must be stopped immediately before their savagery expands and they strike inside the U.S. homeland. Here are excerpts from the Fox News story: The House approved a resolution Monday that declares the Islamic State is committing genocide against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East -- putting even more pressure on the Obama administration to do the same ahead of a deadline later this week. The resolution passed the House with a unanimous vote of 383-0. The resolution came to a vote just days after the release of a graphic new report by the Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians on ISIS' atrocities. The report made the case that the terror campaign against Christians and other minorities in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East is, in fact, genocide. “When ISIS systematically targets Christians, Yezidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities for extermination, this is not only a grave injustice—it is a threat to civilization itself,” Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., said in a statement. “We must call the violence by its proper name: genocide.” The resolution was voted on ahead of a congressionally mandated March 17 deadline for Secretary of State John Kerry and the White House to make a decision on whether to make such a declaration. The measure is an effort to force the administration's hand on the issue, as the administration has so far declined to take an official position. There is a similar measure in the Senate that has yet to be voted on. “Christians, Yezidis, and other beleaguered minority groups can find new hope in this trans-partisan and ecumenical alliance against ISIS’ barbaric onslaught,” Fortenberry, who is co-chairman of the Religious Minorities of the Middle East Caucus and represents America’s largest Yezidi community, said in the statement. The measure also received the backing of House Republican leadership, with Speaker Paul Ryan calling on the Obama administration to take action in light of recent attacks against Christians. “Last week, ISIS militants killed 16 people, including four Catholic nuns, at a retirement home in southern Yemen,” Ryan said in a statement Monday. “This is the latest in a string of brutal attacks committed by ISIS against Christian and other minorities. Yet the administration has still not called this what it is: A genocide.”..... ....In addition to the genocide resolution, the House also voted on a measure to create an international tribunal to try those associated with atrocities by the Assad regime, ISIS and related groups. The measure passed in a vote of 392 to 3. The no votes came from Reps. Justin Amash, R-Mich, Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii. At least three presidential candidates -- Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz on the Republican side, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side -- have called on the administration to designate ISIS atrocities against Christians as genocide..... joelcrosenberg | March 15, 2016 at 7:44 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-4r7