Bridges need to be built between Christians and Jews to help fight the rising tide of global anti-Semitism, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said during his current 12-day visit to the Holy Land.
Speaking at Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, the leader of the world’s 85 million Anglicans said the museum’s art revealed “the depths of human evil”. He said:
“Within European culture, the root of all racism, I think, is found in antisemitism. It goes back more than 1,000 years in Europe. Within our Christian tradition, there has been century upon century of these terrible, terrible hatreds in which one people … [are] hated more specifically, more violently, more determinedly, more systematically than any other people.”
The Jewish people had advanced science, art, music and had founded economies, he continued, saying that should provide a template for future relations. Now, with anti-Semitism on the rise, he added: “We must dedicate ourselves afresh … to building and maintaining bridges and friendships, understanding, tolerance, unity and peace.”
Welby was speaking during a busy day in Jerusalem that included visits to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the most important Catholic site in Jerusalem, the Western Wall, Judaism’s most holy site, and the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. He was accompanied by the UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. READ MORE
