Metro Detroit's Jewish community joins with our Chaldean neighbors calling upon the Obama administration and Congress to take immediate, concrete, forceful action to rescue, protect and provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Christians and other minorities in Iraq. Chaldeans and Assyrians in Iraq have been targeted for their Christian faith by ISIS and others in an unabashed ethnic-cleansing campaign. Thousands have lost their lives, hundreds of thousands have lost their homes and possessions, and the list of victims grows literally by the hour. The world is aware of this genocidal devastation, but it has failed to take definitive steps necessary to end the imminent threat against these innocent victims. Congress passed nonbinding resolutions in 2010 (S. Res. 322 and H. Res 944) calling on the Obama administration to work toward ending the marginalization and persecution of ethnic minorities in Iraq. Last month, the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2170 condemning gross, widespread abuse of human rights by extremist groups in Iraq and Syria, and demanding that UN member states impose sanctions on the funding and shipment of arms from their citizens to ISIS. While such measures are important, they are woefully insufficient to meet and deflect the threat faced by Iraqi Christians. The White House and Congress must come together immediately to do the following: Lead a coalition of willing governments, non-government organizations (NGOs) and other groups to provide direct military protection for Christian and other minority communities threatened by ISIS and other terrorist groups. With innocent lives on the line, this is not the time to be timid in the use of protective military force. Liberate the 250,000 residents trapped in Christian and other minority villages in the Nineveh Plains, and find a long-term plan to safely resettle them elsewhere in Iraq. Work with the Iraqi and Kurdish governments and others, as called for in House Res. 683, to establish corridors of safe passage for embattled civilians to reach secure interim humanitarian sites for their respite and recovery. Provide sufficient direct humanitarian aid and compensation to the threatened and displaced. Determine durable solutions for the repatriation of displaced persons when possible, and for their resettlement in third countries. Pass the Nineveh Plain Refugee Act (H.R. 5430), a bipartisan measure to swiftly and significantly increase the issuance of refugee visas by the United States. Encourage third countries to increase the number of refugee visas they issue to Iraqi refugees. At a time when hundreds of thousands of lives hang precariously in the balance, the U.S. must not just join coalition efforts. It must convene and take the lead in such efforts.

Supplied by Dr. Richard Krugel, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit; and Alex Stotland, chairperson of the Anti-Defamation League - Michigan Region Advisory Board.