About 500 Black American and African Christian Leaders Tour Israel to Finish King's Planned 1967 Pilgrimage
The "Unfinished Business" delegation, led by Pastor Dumisani Washington, says it comes on a biblical footing and hopes to bring 5,000 pastors in 2027.
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About 500 African and Black American Christian leaders have arrived in Israel for a tour called “Unfinished Business,” meant to carry out a pilgrimage Martin Luther King Jr. once planned but never made, All Israel News reported Nov. 5.
The trip is organized by the Black Christian Leadership Council on Israel Relations in collaboration with Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The delegation includes 75 Christian leaders from 10 African countries, along with a group of American rabbis. It is led by Pastor Dumisani Washington, founder and CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, and Dr. Michael Anthony Stevens.
According to All Israel News, King planned to lead hundreds of Black Americans on a pilgrimage to Israel in 1967. The Six-Day War pushed it back to 1968, and it was dropped after his assassination in April of that year. The plans turned up in letters between King and Israeli prime ministers David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol.
Stevens said the delegation is not coming “from a political or partisan perspective, but from a deep biblical, theological, and moral foundation.” He and Washington said the group wants to show support for Israel as antisemitism and anti-Israel feeling rise.
At a press conference Wednesday, Nov. 4, the Foreign Affairs Ministry gave certificates of recognition to three Israelis whose families were struck by terror: Hila Abir, whose brother Lotan was murdered at the Nova festival on Oct. 7, 2023; Elkana Bohbot, who survived 738 days in Hamas captivity; and Daniel Lischinsky, whose son Yaron, an Israeli Embassy staffer, was murdered with his partner Sarah Milgrim in a terror attack in Washington.
The schedule includes a meeting with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Monday, Jerusalem events for Sigd, the Ethiopian Jewish holiday, later in the week, visits to communities near the Gaza border, and a stop at Martin Luther King Street in Jerusalem.
See where this is ›Washington called this year's trip “the first step.” The organizers hope to bring about 5,000 pastors and leaders to Israel in 2027.
