In a town hall meeting in Berlin, N.H., last night, Hillary Clinton used the word “genocide” to describe the atrocities being committed by the Islamic State against Christians and other religious minorities in parts of Syria and Iraq.
The former secretary of state used the word in a response to a question by an attendee about whether she was comfortable using the word given that so many other world leaders have done so. “Yes I will now,” Clinton said. “I will because we now have enough evidence. What is happening is genocide. Deliberately aimed at destroying not only the lives but wiping out the existence of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East in territories controlled by ISIS, and so I agree with you.”
Just a few months ago, Clinton said she thought there wasn’t enough evidence to label the atrocities “genocide.”
President Obama has stopped short of employing the word when describing the condition of Middle East Christians. (To his credit, Obama highlighted Middle East Christians during his Christmas message last week.) There are rumors that the State Department will soon designate Yazidis as victims of genocide but not the centuries-old Christian communities living the areas controlled by the Islamic State.
In a Christmas Day editorial, the Washington Examiner explained that a designation of genocide could put pressure, moral if not legal, on the administration to take action to stop the atrocities. This is something Clinton hinted at last night when she said that she had been reluctant to make such a designation in the past because the term has “broad implications.”
Clinton’s use of the term was welcomed by advocacy groups. “In Defense of Christians (IDC) extols Secretary Clinton for taking leadership on an issue that holds in its hands the lives and fate of hundreds of thousands of Middle East Christians and the very existence of some of Christianity’s most ancient communities and heritage,” said Kristen Evans, executive director of In Defense of Christians, whose objective is to focus public attention on the plight of Middle East Christians.
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner
