Prominent Black Lives Matter Figure Equates Ukrainian Resistance to Palestinian Terror Attacks
by Gidon Ben-Zvi
Newsweek reported on February 27 that social justice activist Shaun King drew a moral equivalence between the plight of the Ukrainian people under attack by Russia, and Palestinians attacking Israelis:
I just wanna be clear on something…
It appears it’s now publicly acceptable to take up arms, make & use Molotov cocktails, and take any measure possible to defend your literal home & homeland from violent occupying forces & invaders.
Right? OK.
(Notes to self for Palestine)
— Shaun King (@shaunking) February 26, 2022
To its credit, Newsweek included a few online responses to King’s tweet, such as:
This example paints the Middle East conflict as simple as what’s happening in Ukraine. And it isn’t helpful in this sea of misinformation. The Hamas terror organization is the leading force behind the Palestinians heartbreaking suffering — not Israel.
King’s parallel between the Middle East’s only democracy and Russia, which is reportedly attempting to remove Ukraine’s democratically-elected government, is bizarre.
It’s also baseless.
Shaun King is an activist who uses social media to promote social justice causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement. He has a massive online following, with one million followers on Twitter and over 2.5 million friends on Facebook.
The goal of the Black Lives Matter movement couldn’t be nobler: to eradicate racism. By doing so, the lives of Black people in the United States and around the world will dramatically improve. Unfortunately, King is a public figure who is promoting hatred towards and violence against Israel under the guise of anti-oppression values.
In May 2021, as Israel was defending itself against thousands of rockets that were launched from Hamas-ruled Gaza by Palestinian terrorist groups, King penned a piece, titled, “The United States Is Writing the Checks for the Israeli Apartheid of Palestine,” which grossly misrepresents the actual legal and practical state of affairs within the Jewish state: one where rights and protections are extended to all citizens — Jews and non-Jews alike.
Israel is a country where Arabs serve as Supreme Court Justices, fighter pilots, Members of Knesset, artists, and athletes.
Everything that Jewish Israelis do, Arab Israelis can too.
King has also openly defended Louis Farrakhan, someone who has cynically manipulated the cause of social justice to push an antisemitic and anti-Israel agenda.
In addition, King is using the Russian attack on Ukraine — and his misplaced parallel to the Israel-Palestinian conflict — to promote an agenda that seeks to isolate and demean the world’s only Jewish state. In a February 27 tweet, he called for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel:
I see 3 things happening right now in Ukraine that I need to be true for Palestine.
1. Open, legal fundraising for Ukrainians to defend themselves.
2. Compassionate stories about Ukrainians defending themselves.
3. The boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) against Russia.
— Shaun King (@shaunking) February 27, 2022
By equating a country’s ongoing battle against terrorism with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Shaun King diminishes Israel’s experiment in democratic governance that guarantees equal rights to all, while effectively normalizing the use of violence against all citizens of the Jewish state.