This article originally appeared on themedialine.org.
A letter sent to 120 world leaders demanding a halt to the persecution of Middle East Christians was released in Jerusalem on Monday by its signatories, Dr. Jurgen Buhler, executive director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ); Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress; and Dr. William M. Wilson, co-chairman of Empowered21 Global Council and president of Oral Roberts University.
The letter marks the first time global Christian and Jewish organizations have jointly called for international action to end the violent persecution Christians in the Middle East are facing at the hands of Islamist groups such as the Islamic State.
“A year ago, Ronald Lauder came to us with a message that it’s time for Jews and Christians to unite against the persecution of Christians by ISIS in the Middle East,” Buhler said. Lauder vowed he would bring the plight of the Christians to the world as the world has remained silent while the Islamic State systematically threw out hundreds of thousands of Christians from the Middle East, killing tens of thousands if they chose not to convert to Islam.
Lauder said he found the “sweeping silence of the United Nations” surprising. “We hear daily of the death of 1,200 Gazans, but we also hear nothing of Christians having to leave Bethlehem. We Jews know how things in the 1930s ended up when Jews were being killed and the world was silent. The Christian number of communities that have been wiped out is staggering. At one time 20 percent of the population of the Middle East was Christian,” Lauder said.
President Billy Wilson of Oral Roberts University made a plea for the world to “stand up and stop one of the greatest atrocities in the 21st century. Christians and Jews through the centuries have all suffered persecution,” he said.
Asked whether the plight of 12,000 Kurds facing slaughter at the hands of advancing ISIS forces at Kobani, Syria, is reversible, Lauder told The Media Line that he believed that only the Turkish army is in position to do anything and that air strikes by the US-led coalition are clearly insufficient to turn the tide: a sentiment that evoked strong agreement from those present.
“Equally disturbing was the fact the United States did not send in ground troops,” Lauder added. He told The Media Line that “it has to be done by boots on the ground; the question is who is doing it.” He expressed the fear that “it’s the 11 ½ hour and I don’t know if it’s too late, but very soon it will be.”
Wilson opined that “ISIS would not have been as powerful as it is had the United States armed the Free Syrian Army, the umbrella group of rebel fighting forces.
Also speaking at the press conference was Rev. Canon Andrew White, known as the “Vicar of Baghdad” who was thrown out of Iraq days ago after having been accused of being “a lover of Israel.” He told the assemblage that just over the weekend children who belonged to his church were beheaded when they refused to convert to Islam.
White served as a special envoy to the Middle East peace process, having been the mediator during the standoff between the Israeli army and Palestinian gunmen at the Church of the Nativity in 2002. He later served as chaplain to British and American forces in Baghdad during which time he became a leading voice about the atrocities being committed in Iraq. Some 200 members remain in his church that once served 6,500 worshipers.
White says he also tries to take care of the six Jews who remain in Iraq.
The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem is a global ministry that represents millions of Christians worldwide who share a love and concern for Israel and who seek to repair a historic breach between their church and the Jewish people.
In addition to unveiling the letter, ICEJ used the occasion to distribute the first edition of the Israel Buyer’s Guide, a project aimed to counter Palestinian efforts to foment an international boycott of Israeli goods by encouraging Christians to “buy Israel.” In a reference to Israel’s reputation as a high-tech center, Buhler said the world cannot afford to boycott Israel “or it would just stand still,” citing Israeli technology in virtually every computer as an example.
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