Archbishop of Canterbury gives grant to CCJ for trips to Israel-Palestine

Council of Christians and Jews to run interfaith trips to the Middle East which “will make a huge difference”

The Council of Christians and Jews has been given a grant from the Archbishop of Canterbury in order to take Jewish and Christian leaders to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

CCJ said the money from the head of the Anglican Church’s Discretionary Fund “will make a huge difference” and allow the interfaith group to conduct its third study tour across the holy land in May “to hear the perspective of the other”.

Archbishop Justin Welby has prioritised interfaith relations and the CCJ said the grant would “help shape the dialogue in the UK to prevent conflict in Israel/Palestine from creating further conflict in our home communities”.

The money will also help fund annual seminars at the International School of Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, where church leaders are taught about the Holocaust and equipped to be advocates for Holocaust education.

A CCJ spokeswoman said: “We are very grateful to Archbishop Justin for this generous gift which acknowledges important work in education, dialogue, and social action between Christians and Jews and other faiths.”