The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was A Zionist
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was A Zionist

When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews, You are talking antisemitism.” 

More exact words were never said, and they were told by the great civil rights leader, The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. the American hero whose life and dream we celebrated on Monday. Dr. King was a great leader for civil rights and a Zionist. Unlike today’s “Civil Rights” leaders who seek divisiveness and handouts, Dr. King’s dream was a post-racial society where people were judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin.

Dr. King was a strong supporter of Israel and the Jewish people.  In recognition of MLK Day, many bloggers always post a letter supposedly penned by Martin Luther King called “Letter to a Zionist Friend.” The story of the letter is a hoax, but the sentiments of the story are true. The Reverend Dr. King was a supporter of Zionists.  The most famous line in the letter, “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You are talking antisemitism,” was uttered by Martin Luther King Jr,  just not in any letter. He was a strong supporter of Jews and Israel.

Clarence B. Jones, Dr. King’s personal attorney once wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

I was his lawyer and one of his closest advisers, and I can say with absolute certainty that Martin abhorred anti-Semitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism. “There isn’t anyone in this country more likely to understand our struggle than Jews,” Martin told me. “Whatever progress we’ve made so far as a people, their support has been essential.”

The Jones op-ed came from the book What Would Martin Say? Which was written by Clarence Jones and Joel Engel. The book is available at Amazon. What Would Martin Say? is also available at Barnes and Noble online.

Almost twenty years ago, CAMERA tried to verify the letter but couldn’t find a source document for it anywhere. They even tried Boston University, where Dr. King’s work is archived. The archivists, too, were unable to locate any such letter. “We can only conclude that no such letter was written by Dr. King," they wrote.

Jews like Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (pictured above with the beard in a famous photograph) marched with Martin Luther King Jr. on the road to civil rights. Rev.King marched with the Jews on the way to a secure Israel.

In 2002, the late Rep. John Lewis who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an op-ed confirming that the famous quote used in the fake letter came from a speech made by Dr. King,

….During the recent U.N. Conference on Racism held in Durban, South Africa, we were all shocked by the attacks on Jews, Israel and Zionism. The United States of America stood up against these vicious attacks.

Once again, the words of King ran through my memory, “I solemnly pledge to do my utmost to uphold the fair name of the Jews — because bigotry in any form is an affront to us all.”

During an appearance at Harvard University shortly before his death, a student stood up and asked King to address himself to the issue of Zionism. The question was clearly hostile. King responded, “When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews, you are talking antisemitism”

As it turns out, Rep. Lewis may have been wrong also. King uttered those words at a dinner which took place at the Cambridge home of Martin Peretz, then a professor at Harvard. As reported by Martin Kramer:

King’s words were first reported by Seymour Martin Lipset, at that time the George D. Markham Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard, in an article he published in the magazine Encounter in December 1969—that is, in the year following King’s assassination. Lipset:

Shortly before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King, Jr. was in Boston on a fund-raising mission, and I had the good fortune to attend a dinner which was given for him in Cambridge. This was an experience which was at once fascinating and moving: one witnessed Dr. King in action in a way one never got to see in public. He wanted to find what the Negro students at Harvard and other parts of the Boston area were thinking about various issues, and he very subtly cross-examined them for well over an hour and a half. He asked questions, and said very little himself. One of the young men present happened to make some remark against the Zionists. Dr. King snapped at him and said, “Don’t talk like that!  When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking antisemitism!”

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man who believed that everyone should be able to live in peace and freedom, no matter how they worshiped God or the pigment of their skin. He was a fighter for civil rights, and he was a fighter for the Jews. Sadly in today’s world, too much Antisemitism comes from leaders of the African-American community. People who pretend to follow in Dr. King’s footsteps forget how he loved the Jewish People, and the Jewish people loved him.

Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity and the right to use whatever sea lanes it needs. I see Israel, and never mind saying it, as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality. (Address to the 68th annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly-The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on March 26, 1968.)

Dr. King fought for the release of Jews in the Soviet Union.  He was an early supporter of Israel, who knew how to cut through the phony anti-Zionist memes of many antisemites. Many of today’s supposed civil rights leaders, heck many political leaders today would serve themselves well to better understand the words of this man of peace.