“Many in the West Bank were incensed this August when the Israeli government barred Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from visiting the country over their support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement on the basis of a 2017 bill which entitles the state to deny entry to boycott activists. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially indicated that he would allow the trip to proceed but subsequently reversed himself following pressure from President Trump. While Tlaib was later granted entry on a humanitarian trip to visit her grandmother in the West Bank, she rejected the offer.”

"Backlash against Omar’s remarks even prompted House Democrats to make plans to introduce and vote on a resolution this week that would conflate statements like her with anti-Semitism. However, pressure from the Congressional Black and Progressive caucuses forced them to “put off” the issue. But amid the frenzy, there’s been a glaring lack of context surrounding Omar’s beliefs."

"Today, we can only speculate about where King would stand. Yet I find myself in agreement with the historian Robin D.G. Kelley, who concluded that, if King had the opportunity to study the current situation in the same way he had studied Vietnam, “his unequivocal opposition to violence, colonialism, racism and militarism would have made him an incisive critic of Israel’s current policies.”