Al Sharpton Stands Up for Israel
In an exclusive report for the Washington Monthly, Al Sharpton biographer Dr. Jamal Watson explores the civil rights leader’s support of Israel in the days following the October 7 attack on the Jewish state.
I have excerpts from this remarkable profile below, but first, here’s more of what’s leading the Washington Monthly website:
Watson describes how Sharpton reacted in the aftermath of the attack:
At the Saturday-morning rally that he leads each week in Harlem, Sharpton immediately took to the podium to describe the atrocities that had been leveled against innocent men, women, and children that morning.
“He didn’t wait to check with his pollsters,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, told me. “He didn’t wait to put his finger to the wind to see what people were saying. He didn’t call around to allies to understand the political call. He just said what he said because it was the right thing to do.”
Watson also writes:
For those who best remember the 69-year-old reverend from the 20th century—when he was associated with high-profile protests in New York City—and haven’t kept abreast of his emergence as a powerful national political figure or a staple on MSNBC, his full-throated empathy for Israelis and Palestinians might come as a surprise.
He adds in his article, which appears in the upcoming print issue of the Monthly:
I can say his actions on October 7 and his interest in Israel reflect both his enduring values and the moral growth that makes him arguably the nation’s most important civil rights leader.
Click here to read Al Sharpton Stands Up for Israel.
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Best,
Bill
