Last week, more than 1,000 Black pastors called on President Biden to restrain Israel in its war against Hamas. Some went so far as to identify the Palestinian cause with the Black civil rights movement. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Hamas-Israel war is not a fight for the equality of Palestinians and Israelis, nor is it a fight to establish a Palestinian state on an equal footing with Israel in the international arena. Rather, it is a fight by Hamas to annihilate the Jewish State of Israel, and a fight by Israel for its very survival.
But the pastors not only misunderstood the nature of Israel's war against Hamas; they also betrayed the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and all those who fought alongside him for equal rights under the law.
Dr. King was committed to the Zionist dream of return to the ancient homeland of the Jewish people. This wasn't just a political commitment for him; it was a theological one. The themes of slavery and liberation, exile and return, that play out in the story of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land have long resonated in Black churches because the biblical account so closely parallels the African-American experience. None of this was lost on Dr. King. "Peace for Israel means security," he once remarked, "and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity."
The civil rights movement led by Dr. King sought to unify and integrate black and white America. Hamas, however, does not seek integration. Nor does it even seek segregation. It wants nothing less than the eradication of the State of Israel and the Jews who live in it.
Even Palestinians don't enjoy civil rights protections in Gaza under Hamas or in the West Bank under the PLO. Ironically, while deployed in the Middle East with the U.S. Navy and in support of US-Israel ballistic missile defense operations, I found some of the best living conditions for Arabs in the region to be in Israel. This is remarkable, given that Israel is surrounded by Arab states which seek to have the Jewish State wiped off the face of the earth.
To be sure, Arab-Israelis face plenty of challenges, most of which are a function of the terror campaigns launched by the PLO and Hamas—two of the most infamous terrorist organizations. But in Israel, Arab-Israelis participate on an equal footing as other Israelis in public life. For example, Arabs who are Israeli citizens serve in the Knesset as Members of Parliament, sit on the Supreme Court, and are media stars.
Additionally, Israel is a safer and better place for gay Palestinians and female Palestinians than Gaza or the West Bank. This is evidenced by the fact that gay Arabs seek refuge among Israelis in Tel Aviv. Moreover, Arab-Israeli women are more educated than Arab women in Gaza and the West Bank. And Arab-Israelis (including women) serve in high-ranking positions in the Israeli Defense Forces. I have seen it firsthand.
Black pastors should be concerned about the rise of antisemitism among younger and more educated blacks.
They should stand against what continues to be exposed as a broader agenda of progressive Democrats to maintain power through division.
While some may be sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, more should be cautious about conflating the Hamas-Israel conflict with the Black civil rights movement. Otherwise, they risk losing the moral significance of the civil rights movement and allow it to be a perpetual source of enmity only to be exploited by another's quest for control.
Rod Dorilás is a U.S. Navy veteran, first-generation American, former counsel to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, former Florida Republican Congressional candidate, and founder of Sovereign Law Group PLLC.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
