Radio broadcaster Nick Ferrari has sung the praises of Jerusalem after touring the city during a trip to Israel with education charity ORT UK.

The LBC Breakfast host, on his first trip to the Jewish state, said after visiting the Western Wall: “You can’t overstate the significance of what I’ve just been through. There’s an extraordinary aura of calm and devotion. Nothing compares.

"I thought I was moved when I went to the Basilica in Rome, but this is like nowhere else like this on the planet.”

The tour of Jerusalem, which included a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and a stroll through the old city market, concluded with a moment of reflection at the Kotel, where Mr Ferrari left a note in the wall.

Mr Ferrari, a known advocate of Israel, explored the old city with his partner Clare, ORT CEO Dan Rickman and trustee Mark Mishon, before travelling to the charity’s Kfar Silver Youth Village on the outskirts of Ashkelon, 30 km from Gaza.

The boarding school, which is now run by the charity’s Israeli branch, World ORT Kadima Mada, was set up over 60 years ago to serve as an educational and agricultural safe haven for children arriving in Israel from the diaspora.

Teachers and students welcomed Mr Ferrari into the school, where pupils follow a curriculum combining advanced technological training with business skills and hands-on lessons in agriculture, as well as traditional subjects.

He said: “One minute these young people are planting tomato seeds, the next minute they’re milking a cow, the next minute they’re riding horses and the next minute they’re studying molecular science.

"This is a unique institution and how appropriate I’ve come to a place of learning, because I have learnt so much about the country and about what ORT is achieving.”