How Martin Luther King Jr. avoided visiting Israel

["King was sympathetic to Israel and declared support for its right to exist in peace. But given all the delays and evasions, it seems he did not want to identify himself with Israel to this extent during the struggle for equal rights for blacks in the United States," write Shlomo Mark and Hagai Zoref at the State Archives. "It is possible that the fact that during the 1960s his status began to decline in the African-American community, with the rise of more radical groups that were identified with anti-Israel positions, such as Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, also contributed to this," they added.] Pure conjecture mixed with hyperbole. Yes, Dr. King was publicly derided by men like A. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael for his pro-Israel stance. Yet Dr. King remained a staunch proponent of Israel and the Jewish people. Please get your facts straight - there's enough confusion of about Dr. King's Zionist legacy already out here.

Most in Black community say NO

MLK had various political views which he wanted to keep in line with, towards the end of his life he became much more anti-US govt. following Vietnam War. The relationship between Jews and African Americans during the civil rights movement in USA and indeed post civil rights has been characterized by both shared experience of oppression but also distrust and rivalry stemming from the American urban experience and also since the black power movement of the 1960s, the tendency of some African Americans to view Jews as the white capitalist exploiter. i wouldnt take it personally........

MLK had various political views which he wanted to keep in line with, towards the end of his life he became much more anti-US govt. following Vietnam War. The relationship between Jews and African Americans during the civil rights movement in USA and indeed post civil rights has been characterized by both shared experience of oppression but also distrust and rivalry stemming from the American urban experience and also since the black power movement of the 1960s, the tendency of some African Americans to view Jews as the white capitalist exploiter. i wouldnt take it personally........

I saw a special on the History Channel yesterday. I grew up in the 60's. We were segregagted. I did not realize that blacks did not have the same rights and priviledges as we did. What's harder to believe is that in some ways to this day, they still don't.

While it is politically correct not to remember this. Before the civil rights movment, Jews were embarrassed to show any ethnicity in public in the US. Even observant people in there own neighborhood would not wear a kepah in public. The civil rights movement made it acceptable to be ethnic. This made the baalteshuva movment posible. We owe him a lot.

Why visiting an apartheid entity that occupy other people´s land? he was 100% right.

used to be on the forefront of the civil rights movement.But now , they are turning more and more conservative (neocons) because , they are truly Israel firsters and cannot bring themselves to see Israel as an opressor.

MLK was kind of busy at home during the 1960s. I think the main reason that he didn't visit was his murder. This is another lost opportunity that died with him.

He avoided Isreal for obvious reasons. Salaam/Shalom

Another possibility for the absence of a King visit to Israel is that while King was fighting for human rights in America Israel was in violation of human rights vis a vis the Palestinian people in Israel-Palestine particularly following the lightening '67 war.