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US VP Mike Pence: Washington will step up efforts to assist persecuted Christians across the Middle East

US Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to visit Israel in December, during the Jewish Holiday of Hanukah, in a trip the White House announced aimed at bolstering Washington’s efforts in launching a comprehensive peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians in particular, and the Middle East as a whole. During his visit, Pence – who is considered to be a strong supporter of Israel – will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud in the West Bank city of Ramallah. In addition to efforts at restarting an Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the American vice president is also expected to hold discussions with Jerusalem on Israel’s space program and regarding Washington’s revision of its policy vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic of Iran after President Donald Trump recently announced he would not recertify the international nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, VP Pence announced during an address in Washington, that the United States will no longer rely on the United Nations alone to assist persecuted Christians and other minorities across the Middle East, in the wake of genocide and atrocities committed by Islamist terrorist groups across the chaotic region. He said, “Our fellow Christians and all that are persecuted in the Middle East should not have to rely on multinational institutions when America can help them directly and tonight is my privilege to announce that President Trump has ordered the state department to stop funding ineffective relief efforts of the United Nations and from this day forward America will provide support to persecuted communities through USAID. We will no longer rely on the United Nations alone to assist persecuted Christians and minorities, in the wake of genocide and the atrocities of terrorist groups, the United States would work hand in hand from this day forward with faith-based groups and private organization to help those who are persecuted for their faith, this is the moment, now is the time and America will support these people in there hour of need. We stand with those who suffer for their faith because that’s what Americans have always done, because the common bond of our humanity demands a strong respond and so as a nation we pledge to support them in these trying times and every day. Every day. I know the American people offer forth a course of prayers for these communities, from our hearts to the heart of heaven,” Pence said.

The American vice President further declared that the United States will not relent, until it hunts down and destroys the Islamic State at its source. He stressed, “While under the leadership of President Donald Trump be assured, this administration calls these vicious actions by ISIS what they truly are, they are genocide and they are crimes against humanity, and we will call them what they are. As a candidate, our President pledged to crush and destroy ISIS, and today thanks to the courage of American armed forces and the resolve of our commander and chief, I am pleased to report that ISIS is on the run. Three years ago they celebrated in the streets of their self-declared capital Raqqa. They proclaimed the start of a thousand year califate, as they raised their black flags across the region, but those black flags no longer fly in Raqqa. Just last week American and allied forces liberated Raqqa, and across Syria and Iraq the califate is crumbling. You can be assured, we will not rest, we will not relent until we hunt down and destroy ISIS and its source so they can no longer threaten our people or anyone who calls the Middle East home,“ the American Vice President declared.

The statement by Vice President Pence coincides with Iraq’s final offensive on the Islamic State, near the country’s Western border with Syria, and the successful operation by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces Alliance, which resulted in the capture of the extreme Muslim group’s de-facto capital in Syria, just three months and eight days after a US-led operation eradicated the Islamic State from its de-facto capital in Iraq, the city of Mosul.