“The whole world must see that Israel must exist and has a right to exist – and is one of the great outposts of democracy in the world.”
For this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 19, always the third Monday of January), it is important to revisit not only his dream of racial equality in America, but also his clarity about the disease of antisemitism.
“When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews,” he often said. “You’re talking antisemitism.”
Anti-Zionism is antisemitism
Today, the orchestration by both the far Left and the far Right to bifurcate Israel from the Jewish people stands in direct contradiction to King’s message of peace and love for the Jewish nation.
Israel is a manifestation of the Jewish people’s collective self-determination. Zionism is a social justice movement that began in pursuit of a safe haven for Jews from global antisemitism after more than 2,000 years of oppression and persecution.
King’s support for Israel
In March 1968, just weeks before his assassination, King addressed the Rabbinical Assembly in New York. His words were unequivocal: “Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity.” He went on to describe Israel as “one of the great outposts of democracy in the world,” language preserved in contemporaneous accounts and archival collections.
King’s support for Israel was not political posturing. It flowed directly from his understanding of oppression and liberation. He recognized what it meant for a people to be denied sovereignty, safety, and dignity. He saw in the Jewish people’s return to Israel a moral parallel to the Black struggle and the pursuit of equality.
The civil rights leader also warned against moral double standards. He understood how political language can be used to deny the legitimacy of a people while claiming the mantle of justice. Just as he confronted coded racism directed at Black Americans, he recognized the danger of rhetoric that singled out Jews by denying their collective right to self-determination.
A moral contradiction
Calls to deny Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish democracy are often framed as progressive. King would have recognized this for what it is: a moral contradiction.
King believed justice is indivisible. You cannot fight racism while tolerating antisemitism. And you cannot champion liberation while denying Jews the same right.
The question is not what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would say today – he already told us. The question is whether we are prepared to listen.