Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United States policy recognizing the Simele Massacre of 1933.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1478 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1478

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United 
         States policy recognizing the Simele Massacre of 1933.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 6, 2026

 Mr. Hamadeh of Arizona submitted the following resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United 
         States policy recognizing the Simele Massacre of 1933.

Whereas the United States has a history of recognizing and condemning atrocities 
        experienced by vulnerable and native minorities;
Whereas the First World War brought untold suffering to the world, and 
        particularly to the Assyrian people, who suffered catastrophic losses 
        through violence, famine, and disease inflicted upon them by hostile 
        forces, and found themselves in a difficult predicament as new nation-
        states formed around them;
Whereas no independent Assyrian homeland was established following the First 
        World War, and were otherwise left vulnerable as refugees in the newly 
        formed Kingdom of Iraq;
Whereas the Government of Iraq became increasingly hostile toward the Assyrians, 
        and on August 18, 1933, exiled their leader, Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun 
        XXIII, to Cyprus, with the authorization of the British Government, 
        often being described as Britain's ``smallest ally'' in the Middle East;
Whereas the Government of Iraq rejected the Assyrian leaders' request for 
        autonomy and sought to cause division and animosity among them;
Whereas, in August 1933, after the surrender of those Assyrians who pledged 
        their loyalties to the Government of Iraq and laid down their arms in 
        the interest of peace, the armed forces of the Government of Iraq 
        targeted them for calculated slaughter that came to be known as the 
        Simele Massacre;
Whereas the greatest number of killings occurred between August 1 and September 
        16, 1933, when up to 5,000 unarmed Assyrian Christian men, women, and 
        children were slaughtered by the armed forces of the Government of Iraq;
Whereas, at the time of the massacres, over 60 Assyrian villages were looted and 
        destroyed by various populations urged on to destroy the Assyrian 
        people;
Whereas, as a result of the massacres, numerous Assyrians were forcedly 
        displaced within their country of Iraq, and others were forced to flee 
        the country;
Whereas the massacres drew widespread international condemnation; and
Whereas the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public 
        Law 115-441) establishes that atrocities prevention represents a United 
        States national interest, and affirms that it is the policy of the 
        United States to pursue a United States governmentwide strategy to 
        identify, prevent, and respond to the risk of atrocities by 
        ``strengthening diplomatic response and the effective use of foreign 
        assistance to support appropriate transitional justice measures, 
        including criminal accountability, for past atrocities'': Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
it is the policy of the United States to--
            (1) commemorate the Simele Massacre through official 
        recognition and remembrance;
            (2) reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise 
        associate the United States Government with denial of the 
        Simele Massacre; and
            (3) encourage education and public understanding of the 
        facts of the Simele Massacre, including the United States role 
        in the humanitarian relief effort, and the relevance of the 
        Simele Massacre to modern-day crimes against humanity.
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