Democrats and Republicans stand together against the Islamic State at inaugural Christian summit

California representative Anna Eshoo (D.) spoke at a special summit called In Defense of Christians (IDC) on September 10, commenting on the continuing persecution and slaughter of Christians at the hands of Islamic extremists in the Middle East, specifically by the Islamic State.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "In June, at least a half a million people were forced from Mosul, including every Christian in the city," she said. "And mass, for the first time in thousands of years, could not be celebrated."

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She continued to tell how the Islamic State was killing men and boys, and kidnapping and raping women and girls in Iraq and Syria.

"The genocide of Christians-and that's what it is - it is a genocide-it is genocide," she said before she was interrupted by applause from the audience made up of religious leaders and advocates from the Middle East and across the U.S. "The genocide that's taking place in the Middle East today is a repeat of the history of my family."

Eshoo's mother was Armenian and her father was Assyrian, and she recalled the Armenian genocide in the early 20th century, where the Ottoman Empire killed more than a million religious and ethnic minorities in the region of Turkey.

"They were being slaughtered because they were Christians," she said.

Eshoo did say that she is encouraged by a growing "willingness" in the United States to protect religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East.

Back in August, a bill designed to establish a special envoy at the State Department to oversee religious liberty in the Middle East was sponsored by Eshoo and Virginian representative Frank Wolf (R.). The bill was passed by Congress, and signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Eshoo ended her time saying that action should be taken to "prevent further violence."

"We have to keep our resolve in order to prevent further violence against religious and ethnic minorities, because the genocide of these vulnerable populations is still taking place, and we know that."

Eshoo was joined by four Democrats and 12 Republicans who spoke at the first IDC summit at Washington D.C.

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