Sunni, become head of the country, all the minorities will be slaughtered. So long as there is zerosum game in the middle east, the sum will always be zero. And i often say in game theory theres also whats referred tos two as a variable sum game saying there can be many , winners. Whatever we do there, however much humanitarian aid we provide there, however much military support we provide in the middle east, internally, the leadership that we get behind, the United States, the leadership that we support, have to embrace, they have an obligation to embrace the Minority Community because well be sitting here five years from now, ten years from now, 20 years from now, well be having the same discussion with no progress whatsoever. Again, thank you very much for your testimony. Ill yield back. Rep. Royce go now to mr. Chris smith of new jersey. Christopher h. Smith thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you for calling this very, very important hearing and our distinguished witnesses for your courage, for so effectively articulating the plight of these suffering minorities in the middle east, particularly christians. Thank you for that. And all of those who are suffering at the hands of isis and people who are extremists. You know, i would like to ask a couple of questions. The Human Rights Commission pointed out that the isis violence against christians and other religious minorities quote may constitute genocide. May . I find it extraordinary, you know, the Genocide Convention couldnt be clearer. Eliminating in whole or in part, even the threat rises to the level of being genocide. And of Course International community has always been slow to recognize genocide. We, when i see we, i mean the international community, when it came to sudan, 100 years later we still, only 24 or so countries have recognized the armenian genocide. We seem to gag on the word, and i have tried to get administration witnesses to say what is happening to the christians rises to the level of genocide and that simply is not stated. Congresswoman, chairwoman emeritus have chaired a number of hearings on the genocide, attacks against christians and others in iraq. Again we keep getting this well , well look into it well get back, but just say it. Say it clearly and unambiguously. I have chaired 14 hearings on the suffering of christians, particularly in the middle east, and were still getting, you know, a lack of embrace of the magnitude and the hostility towards people of the christian faith. I would point out that sometimes past is prologue. The Clinton Administration opposed the International Religious freedom act of 1998. He ended up signing it but now we find under this administration the post of ambassador at large was idle left vacant for half of his presidency. We have a very good man in that position, david saperstein, trying to make up i think for lost time. But it was a revelation of priorities that we did not have a person sitting in that very important position. Approximately seven months ago legislation passed totally bipartisan, to establish a special envoy for religious minorities in the middle east and South Central asia. No secret the administration didnt want it. But he did sign it. The president did sign it into law when passed in a bipartisan way. But now for seven months nobody has been selected to take that position. That person should have the ear of the president and could settle shuttle back and forth and assess whats go on on the ground with clarity and to speak out boldly. Nobody has that position. I find that appalling. You might want to comment on that as well. Finally, let me ask you the faith of the young people has to have been i know we saw that wonderful video of the resiliency of the young women. But the faith of the young people has to be shattered. You know they must wonder where are the faithful elsewhere particularly in the United States, i dont think we have done enough. Again, special envoy vacancy speaks volumes to that. But if i could ask you where is the faith of these young people . Donna momeka the matter of fact mr. Smith, is that our faith its amazing that we see its increasing more and more. It its making us more stronger. We left churches that were like used to be filled with people. Now, we have only one church. You see people like young people, all people, we still have faith in god that we are here. We feel that the hand of god is still with us. In the midst of this darkness, the suffering, we see i got is holding us. He is holding us. Otherwise, we would not be what to be witnessing the troubles to our faith that is increasing day after day. The giving of the strength to continue our faith. And to be able to be strong to stay in our country. From last year, we are willing to come back and go home. We have to hope that someday we will go back home. And that will come from your help. Mr. Congressman, the faith in the Christian Community in damascus is increasing. My family were christians for the last 2000 years. Today, we are more involved in humanitarian work. We know we have to lead by example. This is christianity to help others. That is why my family is still in damascus. Their faith is for the poor. To take care of others, because this is what jesus christ taught us. To take care of the poor people. The churches are open, like hospitals. When they liberated, the christians there, they work with the muslims on humanitarian issues. Yes, we are christians. But today more than ever, we are christians that we need to practice our christians on the ground to take care of the people who are suffering. Congressman smith, i went to egypt. And i met the families 15 of the 21 that were victims in libya. I was astonished by their faith. As a fellow christian, i thought, how would i be if i were in that situation today . The fathers said to me, thank god, they are today in heaven. Thank god, a wife talking to me about how her husband had said im going to libya and i will be in danger. But if i do not make it, teach my children. Teach them the principles of jesus christ. That is a story, these are the accounts of their faith. I have seen it in iraq across the board. How christians are standing strong and helping all in fact we had a case, there was a group that found a local church. The church with providing care for them, providing a home for them. This is what they are doing they are struggling giving everything they have. So, thank you. We go to william from massachusetts. Thank you for holding this hearing. And thank you witnesses, i want to let you know we all share your commitment to saving lives. To saving religious and Cultural Heritages and artifacts. Stopping human trafficking, i also want to a knowledge, as dr. Hansen has, the legislation of chairman royce, mr. Smith who im proud to join. In working in this area i want to focus on one thing. I believe that we can do more of in the u. S. To stop this. These terrible actions by isil. That is to look into an issue that time and time again it has come to my attention as the Ranking Member on terrorism trade, and nonproliferation in this community. That is the issue where i sold is notsil is destroying religious heritage particularly in syria and iraq, it is doubling down on that activity by taxing criminals. They are financing their own terrorist operations again. So it becomes cyclical. And i saw firsthand, i just came back days ago visiting eight countries in the middle east and europe, just how this is occurring. I had comments from the leaders in these areas saying how smuggling in these antiquities is such a force of financing for these terrorists. So, what i am doing today as well as introducing legislation, it has geared in on one aspect we can easily move to gthwart. Even agencies the cells i. C. E. And border patrol, they are not as coordinated as they should be. They dont have the tools. When these artifacts and this trafficking come to our own borders in the u. S. , one of the things we have to do, i believe this legislation does, is to work and make sure that the leadership there a designated person to see in on this. More poorly, to have the training in this activity. Even that commitment inquiry in aand coordination is there if the u. S. Officials dont identify the regions with the greatest risk of looting, and they know the techniques related so they can investigate and prosecute this activity. To quell the demand. It is a destination of the world, the United States of america. We are working on that. I like your opinions, your perspective on how this can be helpful as well. Particularly, dr. Hansen has experience in that regard. Thank you. What you mentioned is incredibly important. It is vital that we remove the financial incentive for terrorists groups like isis to raid cultural and religious sites. One of the things we have noticed is that prior to the demolition of shrines and tombs, isis has gone in in advance and looted. Things that they can sell the reason why they are doing looting, the images we saw is that there is a market for it. Your legislation and what you mentioned is incredibly important and taking action to reduce the market. Right now, it is crucial that we get restrictions on stolen material from syria put into place in the u. S. As a market country, our demand for that in the u. S. Is some of what fuels isisactions. I was really intrigued when isis show the video of their desecrating these religious institutions and sending those videos to the world saying, they are doing it because of the sense of trueness. They are narrow, if you want to call it religious beliefs they should be the only police. Yes, if these artifacts are destroyed so no one else can go forth, if theyre portable, they are moving around and profiting to fuel their own terrorism. Quickly, could you just tell me the scope of this . I heard in my recent visit, it is in the tens of millions of dollars. I think that is underreported. It is hard to figure on that. It is very difficult to get a dollar amount. We know that it is significant. As you saw, all of those artifacts that come out of the ground can get financial benefit from them. You have to assume that even the lowest have to be staggering. I cannot give you an exact dollar amount, that is something we are continuing to research and work on. I heard 37 million. Mr. Chairman . Mr. Scott perry of pennsylvania. Ladies, i appreciate you being here. Your stories are shocking to our consc conscience . These stories break our hearts. Dr. Hansen, we have seen isis crucified in public squares and stoned to death women and throat gay people off buildings. They probably post this on twitter and youtube. They gain of followers based on social media. The question is, has isis propaganda campaign. What effective action would you recommend that the United States due to combat social media . Have you researched that, what are your recommendations . Our research does not directly encompass social media. One of the things we have noticed in working with the Cultural Heritage destruction the videos are very clearly designed to demonstrate power and demonstrate fear. We have an nsf grant to study what is happening with the phenomenon of damaging Cultural Heritage. We are working on answering basic questions. Like, when does the damage take place . Is it before or after the religious minority population is physically threatened and murdered . When it comes to social media what is happening with the videos is exactly the same thing that is happening with the videos of death and distraction. The Cultural Heritage sites are being destroyed in a way to demonstrate power and fear. We will wait to hear back from you based on the grants, if you have any recommendations. I would like to turn to is that right . We have been told that the u. S. Government is looking at all and i emphasize all the atrocities that isiss committee. What do you view as Viable Options to protect the community . If there are any. Again, mr. Congressman, i feel underground when they hear this comment, they get disappointed and angry. We cannot protect one minority without thinking about what is happening to the whole country. We are talking about thousands of refugees of christians, but there are millions of sunnis. So, the solution would be a package. We do not want to be isolated from the others who have lived with us all our lives. I want a solution not only for the minorities, i want a solution for all of syria. So when we say we want to protect us, it is offending me. I dont want to be protected. When my other neighbors, their under attack. We need to protect the whole civilians. We have so many moderate muslims and christians, we live together all our lives. If you want to protect us, as a Christian Emma im asking you to protect my neighbor. Thank you. Sister, do you think that the isis targeting of minority communities has primarily been due to strategic opportunity you were there and it is easy. You are vulnerable . Or is it something more deliberate . Would you articulate if it is one or the other or accommodation of the two . I mentioned earlier, mr. Congressman, that it was hard for us or it we used to watch the news that isis took over mosul. We never thought in a few hours we would be out of our homes with nothing at all. I, myself, with my habit in my passport. Both of my sisters left with no documents, nothing. So, it starts with it was gradually. If it was deliberately or not, i cannot say that. We were driven out of our homes within a couple of hours. That was it. Without any warning. My time is expired, thank you. We go now to mr. Cellini of rhode island. Thank you to our witnesses for your really courageous testimony. And the description of the horrors and the violence and a sadistic behavior of this terrorist organization. I hope this is something that the whole world understands as result of your being here today. The significant, personal risks you and yourselves are doing. As my colleague from massachusetts said, we are doing everything we can to protect the sites. But more poorly, we want to protect lives. This effort to destroy cultural and religious identity is an extension of their effort to eliminate entire communities. It is something we have to respond to in the strongest terms. My first question is, i know there are religious minorities that i faced terrible persecution. And they have fled their ancient homeland. But they are unable to cross the border in many instances. They are not technically refugees. They are internally displaced persons. What can we do, what can United States be doing better to help these communities that are trapped in very unsafe locations . Be an assay forin a safer place and these refugees . Anyone . Mr. Congressman, i went to Northern Iraq and i met the government. I was amazed at the work they have done. Not because of meetings i went to, but because of the ground. I followed the girls that were kidnapped by isis, for example. I saw the care they were giving. If the kurdistan government, theyre still doing everything they can. Like the girls we met, christians and all other minorities feel equal. A lot of these workers have been unpaid for months at a time. To give everything they have to these religious minorities shows that they are truly a safe haven. I have never seen a people like the british people. They have gone through their own atrocities so many times, they understand what it is like to be a religious minority. I say the solution is to support the peshmerga army. They are on the front lines, the boots on the ground. Lets help them and support them in any way we can. Let us help the Kurdistan Regional government providing humanitarian systems. To get medical care and psychological care. When i was in jordan, helping the refugees, there was this little boy. The secretarygeneral had flown over. He said, do you see that helicopter . He said i hope to god that it bombs jordan. I was shocked. I said, why would you Say Something like that . Because it happened to me, it has to happen to everyone else. A lot of the children that are coming into these territories have seen so much distraction and trauma. And they do not know how to deal with it. They are in order to protect this generation, we have to support the Kurdistan Regional government. As they work on medical care but also that psychological element, as well. And of course, to support the partners like egypt and jordan were bringing in refugees and taking care of their people. Theyre educating, 14,000 College Students in syria. About 40,000 students and Culinary School are being taken care of to support them on the ground. I was just in jordan and saw the Syrian Border the incredible work they are doing. We have to be supporting that. Again, mr. , richmond, i emphasize the protected zone. I was in jordan last month also. It is important to start thinking about this. We need to get the civilian initiative in a safe area. Where they can be protected from the isis and the bombs of the syrian regime. This will give better position for syria and jordan so they can take care of others. All of the humanitarian aids, we appreciate it. We know that you are doing a lot. But we really need to be in a safe zone. I really asked you, it is so important. Thank you. If i may ask one final question. I want to address one of congressman higgins questions. There are many people who argue that isis is an outgrowth. What do we need to see from the current Iraqi Government, or a future Syrian Government to demonstrate the kind of tolerance and inclusiveness that will prevent this kind of violence . Should the United States be doing more to condition our support on the Iraqi Government on their commitment to take certain steps to detect minority populations . And build a more inclusive government . The syrian solution is a longterm answer. In this interim. , can we be doing more to demand the Iraqi Government . I think it is very important to do to answer your previous question we are known as idps. We will be like th