Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP) today expressed shock and outrage over the reported barbaric burning to death of 19 captive Yazidi girls by Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Iraq. According to news accounts, after the girls refused to be sex slaves, they were locked in a cage and set on fire and viciously murdered.
Stephen M. Greenberg, COP Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, said:
“We are shocked and outraged by this latest act of brutality and barbarism inflicted by ISIS on defenseless young Yazidi women. The atrocities perpetrated by ISIS against the Yazidi people have no bounds. The inability of civilized nations to end the human suffering from mass murder, systematic starvation, rape, torture and forced displacement of Yazidis sickens us and pains our hearts.
We have said before it is a moral imperative for the U.S. and others in the international community to ensure that Yazidis and other victims are protected from ISIS’s ongoing crimes against humanity. Otherwise, to our great shame, many more will lose their lives and dignity.
This is a genocide. Where are the voices of outrage, so often misdirected at Israel? Where are the UN Human Rights Council and its members? Where are the condemnations and mobilization needed to put a stop to this tragic and brutal chapter?”
The Conference of Presidents has long advocated on behalf of the Yazidis and will continue to do so.
In March 2016, leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP) met with Nadia Murad, a 22-year-old Yazidi woman who escaped from Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Iraq after being captured when her village came under attack in August 2014. Murad shared the story of her horrific captivity and the effects on all Yazidis, an ethno-religious minority, suffering from brutal persecution at the hands of ISIS. She lost her mother and six brothers in the attacks and still has family being held captive by the terror group.
;
