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Kerry Declares ISIS Committing Genocide Against Christians, Others 22 Monday, March 21, 2016 The San Juan Daily <strong>Star</strong> Secretary of State John Kerry declared late last week that the Islamic State is committing genocide against Christians and other minorities in the Middle East, after facing heavy pressure from lawmakers and rights groups to make the rare designation. “In my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in territory under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims,” Kerry said Thursday at the State Department, referring to the terror group by an adapted acronym of its Arabic name. He accused ISIS of “crimes against humanity” and “ethnic cleansing.” The announcement was a surprise, at least in terms of the timing. A day earlier, a State Department spokesman said they would miss a congressionally mandated March 17 deadline to make a decision. Yet as the department took heat from lawmakers for the expected delay, the department confirmed Thursday morning that Kerry had reached the decision that Christians, Yazidis and Shiite groups are victims of genocide. It comes after the House this week passed a nonbinding resolution by a 393-0 vote condemning ISIS atrocities as genocide. Kerry’s finding will not obligate the United States to take additional action against ISIS militants and does not prejudge any prosecution against its members, said U.S. officials. Kerry, though, urged others to join in holding the group “accountable”; he called for an “independent investigation” as well as a court or tribunal to take action to that end. Saying the terror network is “genocidal” in what it says, believes and does, Kerry recited a litany of documented atrocities including the execution of Christians in Iraq “solely because of their faith” and of Yazidis. Lawmakers and others who have advocated for the finding had sharply criticized the department’s disclosure Wednesday that the deadline would be missed. The officials said Kerry concluded his review just hours after that announcement and that the criticism had not affected his decision. “Secretary Kerry is finally making the right call,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said in a statement after the announcement Thursday. He added that “President Obama should step up and lay out the broad, overarching plan that’s needed to actually defeat and destroy ISIS. This administration’s long pattern of paralysis and ineffectiveness in combating these radical Islamist terrorists is unacceptable.” The determination marks only the second time a U.S. administration has declared that a genocide was being committed during an ongoing conflict. The first was in 2004, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell determined that atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region constituted genocide. Powell reached that determination amid much lobbying from human rights groups, but only after State Department lawyers advised him that it would not -- contrary to legal advice offered to previous administrations -- obligate the United States to act to stop it. In that case, the lawyers decided that the 1948 U.N. Convention against genocide did not require countries to prevent genocide from taking place outside their territory. Powell instead called for the U.N. Security Council to appoint a commission to investigate and take appropriate legal action if it agreed with the genocide determination. The officials said Kerry’s determination followed a similar finding by department lawyers. Although the United States is involved in military strikes against ISIS and has helped prevent some incidents of ethnic cleansing, notably of Yazidis, some advocates argue that a genocide determination would require additional U.S. action. In making his decision, Kerry weighed whether the militants’ targeting of Christians and other minorities meets the definition of genocide, according to the U.N. Convention: “acts Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to reporters at the State Department in Washington, Thursday. committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” His determination, however, does not carry the legal implication of a verdict of guilt or conviction on genocide charges, the officials said. Such decisions will be left to international or other tribunals. In a bid to push the review process, several groups released reports last week documenting what they said is clear evidence that the legal standard has been met. The Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians, which had applauded Monday’s House resolution, said they hoped the delay would ensure that Kerry makes the determination. “There is only one legal term for this, and that is genocide,” said Knights of Columbus chief Carl Anderson. The groups’ 280-page report identified by name more than 1,100 Christians who they said had been killed by ISIS. It detailed numerous instances of people kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery and driven from their homes, along with the destruction of churches. Egypt Finds New Clues That Queen Nefertiti May Lie Buried Behind Tut’s Tomb Egypt has unearthed further evidence that a secret chamber, believed by some to be the lost burial site of Queen Nefertiti, may lie behind King Tutankhamun’s tomb, Egypt’s antiquities minister said late last week. There is huge international interest in Nefertiti, who died in the 14th century B.C. and is thought to be Tutankhamun’s stepmother, and confirmation of her final resting place would be the most remarkable Egyptian archaeological find this century. An analysis of radar scans done on the site last November has revealed the presence of two empty spaces behind two walls in King Tut’s chamber, Damaty told a news conference. “(The scans point to) different things behind the walls, different material that could be metal, could be organic,” he said. Damaty said in November there was a 90 percent chance that “something” was behind the walls of King Tut’s chamber following an initial radar scan that had been sent to Japan for analysis. A more advanced scan will be conducted at the end of this month with an international research team to confirm whether the empty spaces are in fact chambers. Only then, Damaty said, can he discuss the possibility of how and when a team could enter the rooms. “We can say more than 90 percent that the chambers are there. But I never start the next step until I’m 100 percent.” The find could be a boon for Egypt’s ailing tourism industry, which has suffered endless setbacks since an uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 but remains a vital source of foreign currency. British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves, who is leading the investigation, believes that Tutankhamun’s mausoleum was originally occupied by Nefertiti and that she lies undisturbed behind what he believes is a partition wall. The discovery of Nefertiti, whose chiselled cheekbones and regal beauty were immortalised in a 3,300-year old bust now on display in a Berlin museum, would shed fresh light on what remains a mysterious period of Egyptian history. “It can be the discovery of the century. It’s very important for Egyptian history and the history of the world,” said Damaty.
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