The Nobelist Elie Wiesel said, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. Catholic priest Douglas Basi, the director of the refugee encampment for Iraqi Christians in Erbil, implores: “Help us live. Help us leave.”
Shamefully, the position of the U.S. administration, most politicians and major organizations is almost as in WWII Holocaust: There is no asylum in the U.S. for the true victims of planned genocide.
During World War II, a deliberate delay in filling the immigration quota for Jews, with valid affidavits and full support by American Christian families, forced them to wait three years for admission to the U.S. and ended instead in Nazi extermination camps. This alone resulted in the U.S. contribution of 300,000 victims to the Holocaust.
For three years (2013-2016), the U.S. State Department refused to recognize genocide of Christians in the Middle East despite all warnings and evidence. Tens of thousands of Christians and minorities were murdered and persecuted during that time by radical Islamic groups.
On March 17, 2016, John Kerry caved to H.Con.Res.75 and recognized genocide of Middle East Christians. However, doomed Christians would be unhastily processed by the UN, as all Muslim migrants, for two years. Enough for hundreds of thousands of genocide targets to be exterminated. Note that Middle East Christians belong to ancient communities, with every long-term member easily identifiable by others and the priest, while hard-to-identify Muslim migrants are infiltrated by ISIS.
Providing expedited refugee processing on the basis of religion or the country of origin does not “betray U.S. national core values.” The famous “Lautenberg Amendment” provided, for decades, fast refugee status processing to tens of thousands of Jewish, Christian and other minorities fleeing Iran and the former Soviet Union, rendering them safe from discrimination and abuse for their religious beliefs.
On March 17, 2016, Senator Tom Cotton introduced bill S.2708, similar to the Lautenberg Amendment, allowing fast asylum in the U.S. of Middle East Christians (bypassing the UN). Support S.2708! Negotiate a bipartisan and/or modified but still urgent version! (Note that adding “Syria and Iraq” to “Iran and FSU” in the Lautenberg Amendment could also solve the problem, submitted as a part of the next budget to be approved between October and December.)
If a Congress member would, like in WWII, condone genocide (by not responding to this plea or dismissing S.2708), every decent American, including Jews and Christians, should have to denounce it and refuse to be an accomplice in this second shameful and unforgivable American crime.
I have sent letters urging expedited asylum in the U.S. for Syrian and Iraqi Christians/minorities to my Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and Republican Representative Scott Garrett. Both responded.
Menendez mentioned his cosponsoring S.2551 to create the Atrocities Prevention Board for helping the U.S. government respond to emerging and ongoing atrocities by training personnel to recognize warning signs.
Implementation of S.2551 would take years and would not respond to the current desperate pleas of many Syrian and Iraqi Christians. Menendez refused to follow in any way in the footsteps of Senator Lautenberg.
Garrett thanked me for bringing to his attention H.Con.Res.75, which he co-sponsored at the last moment. That resolution demanded recognition of ongoing genocide of Christians/minorities in Iraq and Syria, but contained no demand for their expedited asylum in the U.S. Like during the Holocaust—only words till the war ends. Meanwhile, the genocide could proceed.
Our letter provided a detailed list for contacts with Congress members involved with S.2708 and the last renewal of the Lautenberg Amendment, and of relevant publications essential for justifying and initiating a legislature for the expedited asylum in the US of marked for genocide Christians and minorities who request it.
However, a number of contacted Senators and Representatives evade a commitment, thus keeping the Congress on the tracks that led to and condoned the Holocaust.
This is a question of Jewish core moral integrity beyond party loyalty. It’s befitting for the Jewish Link to initiate its discussion in major Jewish (and Christian) press.
Dr. Alex Rashin
Teaneck
Teaneck, NJ
