Monday, January 16, 2012

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr on Israel

Israel is the only country in the Middle East to commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and his pursuit of peace, justice and equality.



"Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect her right to exist, its territorial integrity ..... Israel is 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.”

Spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr 10 days before his assassination

Israel acknowledges the legacy of Dr. King with a memorial in Jerusalem, and with a forest, planted in the Galilee. Currently, trees are also being planted to honor his wife, Coretta Scott King.

From the JNF

"In the summer of 2006, Hezbollah launched Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, destroying two million trees that covered thousands of acres of forest in the Galilee. As a tribute to Coretta Scott King and her message of peace and equality, a section of the Biriya Forest, which was destroyed by the rockets, will be replanted as the Coretta Scott King Forest. King, who passed away in 2006, was a distinguished human rights activist and leader. She devoted her life to social justice, alongside her husband, The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Coretta Scott King Forest is in addition to a forest that was planted in Israel in memory of her husband."


From Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King





Martin Luther King St. in Israel. Note the English, Hebrew and Arabic of the sign. What were you saying about "Jew only roads", again?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Clarence B. Jones, a friend and advisor to King, likewise recalled King's opposition to anti-Zionism. He explained in a 2008 Op-Ed, "I can say with absolute certainty that Martin abhorred anti-Semitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism." Jones elaborated on that point in What Would Martin Say?, a book he co-authored with Joel Engel. Mainstream reporters have given a pass to anti-Semitism by black leaders such as Al Sharpton, Jones and Engel argue, because they buy the rationale that Israel's existence is a provocation to Arabs. "Martin, for one, could see this coming after the Six-Day War in 1967, which is why he warned repeatedly that anti-Semitism would soon be disguised as anti-Zionism."