Know Your History: Dr Martin Luther King’s Support For Israel, One Week Before Six-Day War

new series where I bring to you news from the newspaper archives to debunk common misconceptions about the Middle East conflict.

With Israel haters equating Gazans with blacks in Ferguson, and trying to claim the great Martin Luther King despised Israel, a New York Times article a mere week before the Six Day War of June 1967 rebuts that claim.

Leading up to that fateful war, Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser had ordered the withdrawal of the UN Emergency Force, stationed in the Sinai since 1956,  and closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships. One week before the war commenced, 8 Church leaders, including Dr Martin Luther King, stood up for Israel.

Note: I cannot provide a link to the full article since it is only available to those who have purchased a NY Times subscription. But I have provided screenshots below. As usual, click on the screenshots to enlarge.

ny times archive dr king 1ny times archive dr king 2ny times archive dr king 3

4 thoughts on “Know Your History: Dr Martin Luther King’s Support For Israel, One Week Before Six-Day War”

  1. Israel haters have far more in common with Gazan’s than either do with black people. Israel haters and Gazan’s have a lot more in common with the KKK, and of course, the Nazis than with any historically oppressed group. That’s just a fact.

  2. This article just reminds me how much things have changed for our relationship with Israel over the past 50 years. We’ve gone from unequivocal support for Israel from a great civil rights leader like Dr. Martin Luther King in 1967 to the boycott of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress by the Congressional Black Caucus last year. The personal antipathy between Netanyahu and Obama, the first American black president, has only further polarized attitudes among African Americans toward Israel’s right-wing government. And now the guy most likely to get the Republican nomination, Donald Trump, says that if he becomes president, he’ll be neutral in siding with either the Israelis or the Palestinians. Good grief.

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