This week, we commemorate the anniversary of the 1968 assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most iconic figures in American history, known for his tireless fight against injustice and his leadership in the Civil Rights movement. Dr. King’s life and work was rooted in the understanding that all people deserve equal rights, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or background. In the decades since his assassination, while there are many challenges to the full realization of his vision as so well-articulated in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, it is commonly accepted that indeed all people deserve equal rights.
While Dr. King is especially well known for his moral clarity regarding Civil Rights, for which he was also honored with a Nobel Peace Prize, less known are his statements and moral clarity about Israel and the Jewish people. Unfortunately, in the same period that acceptance of universal Civil Rights has become commonplace, there has also been a marked increase in promulgation of denying Israel’s right to exist, and acceptance of an unprecedented rise in antisemitism.
This reality would have deeply disturbed Dr. King today, as noted by his niece Dr. Alveda King on the “Inspiration from Zion” podcast. Alveda King remembers her uncle as a staunch advocate for Israel’s legitimacy, its safety, and security, noting his reference to Israel as one of the greatest outposts of democracy in the world, and on behalf of persecuted Jews in the Soviet Union.
“He also was a strong advocate for Israel. He wrote and spoke about supporting Israel, praying for the peace of Jerusalem. In his own words he says, ‘A no brainer, we have to support Israel.’ He was very clear on his stand.”
As the Civil Rights movement gained momentum, Dr. King found tremendous support and strong allies among American Jews, many of whom joined marches and protests against Jim Crow segregationist laws, and became active in black voter registration and other causes across the American south. Throughout this time, Dr. King remained committed to his message of love and unity, universal human rights, and nonviolent resistance, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, which became the cornerstone of his activism, guiding peaceful protests against racial discrimination.
Dr. King’s connection to Israel began early and was rooted in his Christian faith. In 1959, King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, traveled to the Middle East, including a visit to Israel. At the time, Israel was a young nation, having gained independence in 1948. Jerusalem was divided with the Jewish and Chrisitan holy sites under Jordanian control. King’s trip came during a period of global interest in Israel’s story of survival and resilience, especially after the Holocaust. For King, a deeply religious man, visiting the Holy Land—where Jesus lived—was a spiritual pilgrimage.
He was so moved by this trip, King was planning to lead a trip of as many as 5,000 black Americans to Israel. It’s also believed that in his famous and what would be his final, “Mountaintop speech” the night before he was assassinated, he was referring to Israel and being in Jerusalem.
Dr. King saw parallels between the Jewish people’s inspirational struggle for a homeland, it reaching out to newly independent African countries, and the black Americans fight for equality. This parallels black slaves gaining inspiration and hope from Biblical accounts of the redemption of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.
Both Jews and blacks, he believed, were battling for dignity and equality in the face of persecution. In a 1968 speech at the Rabbinical Assembly, ten days before his murder, King was unequivocal in his support for Israel. “Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity.” He understood Israel’s need for safety in a hostile region and supported its right to exist as a Jewish state. At the same time, he called for peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, consistent with his belief in resolving conflicts nonviolently.
Exemplifying unity between black and Jewish Americans, during the Civil Rights movement many Jewish leaders and activists marched alongside King in places like Selma, Alabama, and worked together on a grassroots level. Dr. King spoke out against antisemitism, recognizing it as a form of hatred that needed to be eradicated. His trip to Israel and his statements reinforced this alliance, showing that his vision for justice extended beyond America’s borders.
Dr. King’s experiences in and support of Israel highlight the global scope of his mission. He saw the struggles of different peoples as interconnected, whether it was black Americans facing Jim Crow laws, or Jews seeking a safe homeland, or freedom from persecution in the USSR.
On December 11, 1966, Dr. King addressed an estimated 50,000 people by phone across the US, lending his moral clarity in support of Soviet Jews. Referring to the three million Jews in the Soviet Union, King said, “No person of goodwill can stand by as an onlooker while there is a possibility of the complete spiritual and cultural destruction of a once flourishing Jewish community. A denial of human rights anywhere is a threat to the affirmation of human rights everywhere.”
“While Jews in Russia may not be physically murdered as they were in Nazi Germany, they are facing every day a kind of spiritual and cultural genocide. Individual Jews may in the main be physically and economically secure in Russia, but the absence of opportunity to associate as Jews in the enjoyment of Jewish culture and religious experience becomes a severe limitation upon an individual,” he also said.
Dr. King believed that true justice lifts up everyone, not just a select few. Alveda King noted that this was rooted in Acts 17:26, that her uncle aspired for “the day that there'll be no black power, no white power, only God, power. And so when we talk about there being one blood and one human race.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was more than a civil rights leader; he was a global thinker who believed in justice for all and whose voice is still widely relevant, and sorely missed today. His visit to and support of Israel and the Jewish people reveal a man whose support for Israel and the Jewish people was rooted in his faith, and is a model for all to emulate today.