TIMES OF ISRAEL
Hundreds of Black Christian leaders arriving in Israel for Martin Luther King-inspired mission
Lazar Berman
November 4, 2026

As support for Israel declines precipitously in the US, hundreds of African-American and African pastors and Christian leaders are arriving in Israel this week for a mission inspired by the slain US civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. King planned to bring thousands of pilgrims to Israel and Jordan in 1967, but that trip was postponed because of the Six Day War and the political implications of such a trip. He said he would look into coming the next year, but was assassinated in April 1968. “There were no mass pilgrimages” back then, says Pastor Dumisani Washington, a pro-Israel activist, at a press conference in Jerusalem. “We as Black Americans recognize that Black Americans were about to start something that no one else was doing.” The “Unfinished Business Pilgrimage” will expand to thousands of participants next year, say organizers, to mark 60 years since King’s planned visit. READ MORE