once again, i find myself in the midst of a deeply personal and moral struggle, suspended between two powerful forces that tug at both my conscience and my identity: on one side, my enduring admiration for the life, legacy, and moral vision of dr. martin luther king jr.—a man whose words and deeds have long served as a guiding light in my own journey toward justice, equality, and nonviolence; and on the other side, my ever-deepening awareness of the painful and often overlooked realities faced by the palestinian people. as an african american jew and the father of seven beautiful children—each of whom, though born of a mixed and multifaceted heritage, remain fully and unequivocally kosher according to jewish law—i have always held dr. king in the highest esteem. his commitment to justice was not limited by borders or confined by identity; it was universal in scope and rooted in the unshakable belief that every human being, regardless of race, religion, or national origin, possesses an inherent and inviolable dignity. i have long drawn inspiration from his early support for the state of israel, a nation he saw as a beacon of democracy, resilience, and self-determination for a people who had suffered centuries of persecution and, most tragically, the horrors of the holocaust.
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yet, as i continue to bear witness to the ongoing realities of occupation, the relentless displacement of families from their ancestral lands, and the immense suffering endured by countless palestinian civilians—particularly in places like gaza and the west bank—i find it increasingly difficult to reconcile the ideals that dr. king once championed with the present-day policies and practices that deny an entire people their basic rights, their freedom, and their right to self-determination. the arc of the moral universe, as dr. king so famously described, may bend toward justice, but only when we actively work to bend it. his legacy compels me to stand against oppression in all its forms, no matter where it appears or how uncomfortable that stance may be. and i firmly believe that had dr. king lived to see the decades-long expansion of israeli control, the deepening of military occupation, and the continued erosion of palestinian rights, he too would have been morally obligated—as he always was—to reexamine and reevaluate his earlier position. to honor king’s ideals while also standing in solidarity with the palestinian struggle for freedom is not a contradiction, but a continuation of his life’s work: advocating for a future in which both israelis and palestinians can live in peace, security, and mutual recognition, with justice as the foundation upon which that shared future must be built.
