On August 6, 2015 in Washington DC, In Defense of Christians (IDC) President Toufic Baaklini made the following statement:
“IDC remembers the Simele Massacre of August 7, 1933, in which as many as 3,000 Christians were murdered in northern Iraq.
This event haunts us to this day. The survivors of this massacre and their descendants, who sought refuge in Syria, have since been driven out by terrorists bent on an agenda that meets the threshold for genocide.
IDC calls upon the U.S. government and the governments of the Middle East to protect the vulnerable groups in the region. IDC also calls upon the international community and the United Nations to adhere to its own mandate — and duty — to respond to acts of genocide, amid the systematic destruction of entire communities that is taking place in the Middle East.”