This Advent season, Embrace the Middle East has launched a campaign urging the UK Government to suspend arms sales to Israel amid escalating violence and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. 

Embrace the Middle East is excited to announce the publication of the 70th anniversary edition of the beloved Bethlehem Carol Sheet.

‘UNRWA has an essential and irreplaceable role in supporting Palestinian refugees and there is no viable alternative to it.’ Read our full statement in response to Israel’s decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

‘This is not a time for silence - this is a time for action. The people of Gaza cannot wait. The world must intervene now before more innocent lives are lost.’ Embrace has joined 37 other organisations in calling on global leaders to do everything in their power to stop the escalation of violence and forced evacuation in northern Gaza.

The Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) has released a statement to mark one year of unprecedented atrocity crimes and suffering in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.  As observer members of AIDA, Embrace wholly endorses the statement. We encourage you to read it in full.

Embrace has signed an open letter to the UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, asking the Government to uphold human rights and international law in its trade agreements with Israel.

Earlier this week Embrace was one of 15 NGOs to sign a statement welcoming the passing of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution endorsing the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on the ‘Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’

Embrace has signed a statement calling on all UN Member States to take urgent steps to protect people deprived of their liberty across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.

Embrace the Middle East is holding three commemorative events around the UK to mark 170 years since its foundation in 1854 and to reaffirm Embrace’s commitment to supporting Christian social witness in the Middle East.

"The Government’s recognition of the clear risk that Israel is using UK arms in serious violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is a welcome step forward. Given that recognition ... it is insufficient that the Government has failed to end ALL arms transfers to Israel..."

On 21 August, Israeli forces issued “evacuation orders” to areas in Deir Al Balah, including parts of the so-called “humanitarian zone” where thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter, and many UK humanitarian organisations have been operating with offices and staff based there. Several organisations, including Action For Humanity, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief UK and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), have been impacted with staff forced to flee and warehouses containing desperately needed humanitarian supplies now rendered inaccessible.

Embrace has been at the forefront of a new letter, signed by over 200 global Christian bishops and executive leaders, urging world powers to use all their leverage to stop the violence and to work for a just and lasting peace.

We welcome the resumption of UK funding to UNWRA. However, funding alone and even the reforms within UNWRA will not meet the needs of our partners and the civilians trapped in what the Foreign Secretary has described as “hell on earth”. We continue to call on our Government to pursue a path of sustainable peace

Embrace is one of 19 UK NGOs to sign a statement outlining key steps the UK Government must take in its first 100 days of office to urgently reset UK Government policy towards Gaza and the West Bank.

The Trustees of Embrace the Middle East are pleased to announce that Jamie Eyre, currently Director of Programmes, Partnerships & Advocacy, will succeed Tim Livesey as CEO in July.

Embrace the Middle East has joined with twenty other charities to issue the following statement, calling on the UK government to unreservedly accept the findings and orders of the ICJ and do everything in its power to ensure that Israel complies with its obligations under international law.

“On 6 May 2024 the Israeli military issued evacuation orders to tens of thousands of people sheltering in parts of Rafah. This included the clinic run by our partner NECC which has been treating around 500 people per day… We are deeply concerned about the welfare of our partners and the communities that they serve.”

Embrace the Middle East has signed an open letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, urging him to restore UK funding for UNRWA following the UN Secretary General's Independent Review.

Embrace has signed an open letter to Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron calling on the UK to immediately halt arms licences and exports to the Government of Israel.

Embrace the Middle East is one of 140+ global Christian leaders and church-based organisations calling for a Permanent Gaza Ceasefire and halt of arms sales to Israel in a new open letter.