Last month I found myself among the narrow streets of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was a moment to reflect on the magnificent history of the holy sites of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.
I'd been to Israel once before, but this was my first visit as Communities Minister and I was excited to be on my way to meet some of the country's young people at the Hand in Hand School, located between the Arab community of Beit Safafa and the Jewish neighbourhood of Patt.
Opened in 1998, the school has grown from a makeshift classroom with just 20 students to a new campus accommodating more than 600 pupils.
While I was chatting to mums in the playground, one told me of their next-door neighbour, whose child attended another school. She'd told her five-year-old that "Jewish kids smell", only for her daughter to reply: "No they don't, they are my friends at school.'"
At Hand in Hand, Arab, Christian, Muslim and Jewish students are taught together in both Hebrew and Arabic and it's a really encouraging example of how a neutral space can instil the values of tolerance through day-to-day contact.
Later I saw for myself how people are helped to meet their employment aspirations when I visited Temech, a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing the job and entrepreneurial opportunities for women in Israel's religious community. Through building leadership skills and offering tailored training, they are helping to match these women to the vacancies in their area and create a more
economically stable community.
I also met inspirational Palestinian women in Ramallah who shared their personal stories with me, the challenges they had faced and how they were overcoming them.
The significance of the work the British government is doing in tackling antisemitism, and the UK's continued commitment to Holocaust commemoration and education was reinforced for me on the most moving moments of the visit. I was honoured to be given the opportunity to pay my respects to the victims of the Holocaust by laying a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem. Each year almost a million visitors pass through its doors and each visit sends a powerful message of remembrance and of standing up to hatred.
We are determined to fight antisemitism. If the Jewish community does not feel secure then our whole national fabric is diminished. It was heartening that this year over 5,500 activities took place in the UK to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.
Later I spoke with Holocaust survivors at a Cafe Britannia club in Jerusalem. There are now 20 such cultural and social clubs around Israel set up by former British Ambassador Matthew Gould and his wife Celia and funded by the UK Jewish community.
This not only highlights the close links between the two communities but is also emblematic of the importance of Israel as a vital ally. As David Cameron said when he spoke to the Knesset in 2014, Britain's "belief in Israel is unbreakable".
Our two countries are highly economically interdependent. The UK is the number one destination for Israeli foreign direct investment in Europe. There are now over 300 Israeli companies in the UK creating thousands of jobs. Last year, close to 30 Israeli firms set up or expanded their operations.
My visit ended by joining the hundreds of thousands of revellers from the LGBT community at this year's annual Pride Parade. The theme was "Women in the Community", highlighting the role of LGBT women in the workplace, family and political life.
This was an immensely rewarding visit to improve understanding between our two governments, but also to meet inspiring individuals from Holocaust survivors to schoolchildren and women of all backgrounds determined to create better economic and social opportunities for themselves and their wider communities.
