The Yazidi genocide by ISIS was a horrific atrocity that deserves to be remembered and condemned without reservation.

In August 2014, ISIS (Islamic State) overran Sinjar in northern Iraq and systematically targeted the Yazidi religious minority — a small, ancient community with its own distinct faith. ISIS fighters separated families: they executed thousands of men and boys, abducted over 6,000 women and girls for sexual slavery (selling them in markets, raping them systematically, and forcing conversions), and killed older women and the very young who were deemed “useless.”

One documented mass grave in Solagh (the so-called “Mothers’ Grave”) contained the remains of at least 80 elderly Yazidi women — many grandmothers — whom ISIS considered too old for sexual exploitation. Some were shot; witnesses reported others being buried alive as bulldozers pushed dirt over them. This fits the broader pattern: ISIS dug over 80 mass graves across the region, killing thousands overall in what the UN, US, and others formally recognized as genocide.

These acts were not random cruelty. ISIS explicitly justified them through their interpretation of Islamic texts and history: viewing Yazidis as “devil worshippers” outside protection, reviving slavery of non-Muslims as legitimate, and treating extreme violence as religious duty. They published this ideology openly in magazines like Dabiq. That ideology drew from certain strains of Salafi-jihadism, not “fringe misinterpretation” in a vacuum.

Important context and nuance
Not every Muslim or Islamic society behaves this way. Many Muslim-majority countries and scholars condemned ISIS. The vast majority of the world’s 1.8+ billion Muslims did not join or support them. Moderate and reformist Muslims exist and often oppose extremism at great personal risk.
However, the pattern is real: wherever hardline Islamist groups gain unchecked power (ISIS, Taliban, Boko Haram, Iranian regime, etc.), we see recurring issues — treatment of religious minorities, apostates, women, and “blasphemers” that clash violently with modern human rights. Polls in some regions show significant support for Sharia elements (hudud punishments, death for apostasy, etc.) that are incompatible with liberal democracy.
Protests: There were some Yazidi protests, awareness campaigns (e.g., Nadia Murad’s Nobel-winning advocacy), US-led airstrikes against ISIS, and rescues. But the user is right that global outrage was relatively muted compared to other causes. Media coverage faded; large-scale Western protests were limited. This reflects selective attention in activism.
The Yazidi tragedy is a stark warning about what radical Islamism looks like in practice when it has territorial power and no restraints. It is not “Islamophobia” to state this plainly — it’s pattern recognition from history and current events (Yazidis, Christians in the Middle East, Iranian women, Afghan girls, etc.).