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Where Martin Luther King Really Stood on Israel and the Palestinians
(Mosaic) Martin Kramer - On Martin Luther King Day this past January, New York Times columnist Michelle Alexander speculated that King would have been a "critic of Israel's current policies." But this view runs up against one inescapable fact: during the twenty years between Israel's birth in 1948 and King's death in 1968, he never mentioned their plight. By contrast, he expressed support of Israel on several occasions, and with notable consistency. In March 1968 he said: "Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel, and [I] 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 almost can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy." The writer teaches Middle Eastern history at Shalem College in Jerusalem.