ABSTRACT
As the veneration of Martin Luther King, Jr. has deepened in America, he has been recruited posthumously to more causes. The Six-Day War fully mobilized many of the American Jews who had embraced the civil rights struggle and who marched with King. King supported Israel's right to exist, and said so repeatedly. It is remarkable that this last sentence does not figure in the latter-day polemics over King and Israel, even though King spoke it on national television. King also passed over an opportunity to make an exception of Jerusalem. King's careful maneuvering before, during, and after the Six-Day War demonstrated a much deeper understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict than critics credit him with possessing. King struck a delicate balance, speaking out or staying silent after careful assessments made in consultation with advisers who had their ears to the ground—Levison and Wachtel in the Jewish community, and Andrew Young, whom King dispatched to the Middle East as his emissary.
