US, World Leaders Are Responsible for Syrian Refugee Crisis, Says 'Defying ISIS' Author Johnnie Moore

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Thursday, September 10, 2015

A Syrian refugee cries as she carries her baby walking through the mud to cross the border from Greece into Macedonia during a rainstorm, near the Greek village of Idomeni, September 10, 2015. | (Photo: Reuters/Yannis Behrakis)

A Syrian refugee carries a young girl moments after arriving on a dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, September 10, 2015. Most of the people flooding into Europe are refugees fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries who have a legal right to seek asylum, the United Nations said on Tuesday. | (Photo: Reuters/Dimitris Michalakis)

Former USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett gives a speech at an In Defense of Christians panel discussion on the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 9, 2015. | (Photo: The Christian Post/Samuel Smith)

Retired Congressman Frank Wolf, R-Va., gives a speech at an In Defense of Christians panel discussion on the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 9, 2015. | (Photo: The Christian Post/ Samuel Smith)

Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., announces that the introduction of a resolution in the House calling for the U.S. government to label the atrocities committed by ISIS as a genocide. Fortenberry made a surprise appearance at an In Defense of Christians panel discussion on the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 9, 2015. | (Photo: The Christian Post/Samuel Smith)

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WASHINGTON — The United States and other world powers are directly responsible for the escalating refugee crisis in Syria and Iraq because of their inaction toward protecting uprooted religious communities from the torturous Islamic State terror organization, a group of human rights activists proclaimed Wednesday.

At a National Press Club panel discussion kicking off a three-day summit on the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians organized by In Defense of Christians, prominent Christian human rights activists called on the United States government to not only recognize the Islamic State's atrocities as "genocide," but also to coordinate a plan to destroy the group and protect peaceful refugees of all religions.

"My parents and I became human rights defenders precisely to ensure that nothing like the Holocaust would ever happen again," former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Katrina Lantos Swett, said during the panel.

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"As we all know, what the world promised would never happen again is happening today — mass murder, mass rape, mass torture. All of this is happening through ISIL and like-minded groups as I speak."

As ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria are being destroyed by IS and has caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee from their homes, former Liberty University vice president and author of the book Defying ISIS, Johnnie Moore, issued a statement that was read aloud during the panel where he asserted that Western leaders can carry much of the blame for the increased plight of the persecuted Middle Eastern refugees.

"The Syrian and Iraqi refugee crisis is a full-on emergency, it's an emergency caused by the international community — not the least of which includes the United States — and it persists in exaggerated form because of our inaction, indifference, and sense of denial," Moore, who is also a Christian Post senior contributing editor, wrote. "Now, we have a moral obligation to fix the problem we have partly created.

"It took a dead child on a beach in Turkey in order to resuscitate the heart of the international community," Moore continued. "This is a moral travesty."

Moore also provided steps that the U.S. and other international governments should take in order to protect the persecuted refugees and the endangered ancient Christian communities.

First, the U.S. and U.N. must recognize IS' atrocities as "genocide." Moore then argued that the the U.S. should begin issuing visas to victims of genocide and provide them with opportunities to immigrate to the U.S.