IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 143 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding United States 
policy recognizing the Semele Massacre of 1933. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 22, 2021 
Mrs. LESKO (for herself, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. PERRY, Mr. SHER-
MAN, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, and Ms. ESHOO) submitted the following resolu-
tion; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing United States policy recognizing the Semele Massacre 
of 1933. 
Whereas the United States has a history of recognizing and 
condemning atrocities experienced by vulnerable and na-
tive minorities; 
Whereas the First World War brought untold suffering to the 
world, and particularly to the Assyrian people, who lost 
two-thirds of their numbers to violence, famine, and dis-
ease inflicted upon them by hostile forces, and found 
themselves in a difficult predicament as new nation-states 
formed around them; 
Whereas the Assyrians had not been included in the Sykes- 
Picot Agreement between the British and French Govern-
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•HRES 143 IH 
ments after 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 Cy-
prus, with the authorization of the British Government, 
despite the Assyrians being recognized as Britain’s 
‘‘smallest ally’’ in the Middle East; 
Whereas the Government of Iraq rejected the Assyrian lead-
ers’ request for autonomy and sought to cause division 
and animosity among them; 
Whereas, in August 1933, after the surrender of those Assyr-
ians 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 Semele Massacre; 
Whereas the greatest number of killings occurred between 
August 1 and September 16, 1933, when up to 3,000 un-
armed 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 vil-
lages 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 entire world was horrified at the indiscriminate 
slaughter of men, women, and children; and 
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•HRES 143 IH 
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 strat-
egy to identify, prevent, and respond to the risk of atroc-
ities by ‘‘strengthening diplomatic response and the effec-
tive use of foreign assistance to support appropriate tran-
sitional justice measures, including criminal account-
ability, for past atrocities’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that it is the policy of the United States to— 
(1) commemorate the Semele Massacre through 
official recognition and remembrance; 
(2) reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise 
associate the United States Government with denial 
of the Semele Massacre; and 
(3) encourage education and public under-
standing of the facts of the Semele Massacre, includ-
ing the United States role in the humanitarian relief 
effort, and the relevance of the Semele Massacre to 
modern-day crimes against humanity. 
Æ 
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