Hillary Clinton Calls Islamic State Killings Of Christians, Yazidis 'Genocide'
BERLIN, N.H. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate and former New York senator Hillary Clinton says she now believes the Islamic State's persecution of Christians, the Yazidi minority and other religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East should be defined as "genocide.''
Clinton, responding to a voter in New Hampshire, says she's been reluctant to use the term in recent months because calling something 'genocide' has broad implications. But she says evidence now demonstrates that actions by the Islamic State are "deliberately aimed at destroying not only the lives, but wiping out the existence of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East in territory controlled by ISIS.''
In November, Clinton openly denounced the murder of Anita Ashok Datar, a U.S. woman killed in a terrorist attack in a Mali hotel. Datar's family said in a statement released by the State Department that she was born in western Massachusetts and grew up in northern New Jersey.
"America must wage and win an immediate battle against ISIS, al Qaeda, and other terrorist networks, as well as a generational struggle against radical jihadism," Clinton said at the time.
Clinton's trip to New Hampshire is her last campaign travel of 2015. She'll return to the state next week.
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