Elliot Abrams: The Uighurs and the Question of Muslim Solidarity

Twenty-five years ago, American Christians showed extraordinary solidarity with Christians half a world away and with whom they had nothing in common except their faith. As one studyput it, “In the 1990s and early 2000s, the civil war in Sudan and the fate of Christians there became the abiding international preoccupation of US evangelicals."

Similarly, one can recall the decades of efforts by Israel to rescue Ethiopian Jews and bring them to the Jewish State. More than 85,000Ethiopian Jews were resettled in Israel over the years.

This Christian and Jewish solidarity came to mind recently as I read a VOA news item entitled “Report: Beijing's Repression of Uyghurs Spans Globe.” The facts are obvious and have been for years; in 2018 a United Nations panel said it had credible evidence that a million Uighurs were being held in internment camps. As a CFR backgrounder states, “Much of the world has condemned China’s detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. UN officials have demanded access to the camps. The European Union has called on China to respect religious freedom and change its policies in Xinjiang.” In January 2021, then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that China is committing crimes against humanity and genocide against Uyghurs; President Biden used the term genocide to refer to China’s abuses while campaigning, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has affirmed Pompeo’s declaration.

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