In a high-level meeting on religious persecution in Brussels, the President of the European Parliament (EP) said that Europe cannot afford to continue ignoring the fate of Christians, who are clearly the most persecuted group in the world. EP President Martin Schulz said that the persecution of Christians is ‘undervalued’ and does not receive enough attention, which also means that it has not been properly addressed. For Islamists, Christians are the new ‘crusaders’ of Europe. Because of Islamic persecution in the Middle East, more than 70% of Christians have fled from Iraq since 2003, and a further 700,000 Christians have been forced to leave their homes in Syria since the outbreak of civil war.