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As Boston dedicates a massive monument to Martin Luther King, local Jews march in solidarity
BOSTON (JTA) – A month after Rev Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel stood on the front line of the 1965 march from Selma, Alabama, to demand voting rights for African Americans, another march unfolded in Boston.
There, on April 23, 1965, King led more than 20,000 people on a march from Roxbury, the city’s historic Black neighborhood, to the Boston Common. They stretched for nearly a mile, in a historic moment for Boston and its Black community.
Now, in honor of both King’s birthday and the 50th anniversary of Heschel’s death, Boston Common is home to marchers again. On Friday, Jewish Bostonians and allies walked in a procession from the nearby Central Reform Temple to the park for the city’s dedication of a new monument of King and his wife and civil rights partner Coretta Scott King.
“We thought this would be a wonderful moment to rekindle the alliance between the African American Civil Rights community and the Jewish community,” Rabbi Michael Shire, the synagogue’s rabbi and a faculty member at Hebrew College told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a phone conversation a few days before the event.
King had professional and personal ties to the city he came to call his second home. He had earned his PhD in theology at Boston University. It was also the place where King first met and courted Coretta Scott, who was earning her master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music.
The Embrace, a massive sculpture and public memorial designed by renowned artist Hank Willis Thomas, honors the couple’s legacy and the role this city played in their lives. Unveiled Friday, the 20-foot-high bronze sculpture evokes the Kings in a hug that was inspired by a photograph taken in 1964, soon after the announcement that King had been chosen for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Embrace is the largest American-made bronze sculpture in the country, according to Imari K. Paris Jeffries, executive director of Embrace Boston, the nonprofit leading the memorial.
“It is Boston’s Statue of Liberty,” he told WBUR.
The procession, which drew about 100 people, was meant to evoke the bond between the two giants of faith and the ties between the Black and Jewish communities represented by the Selma march, when Heschel famously carried a Torah scroll.
Rain cleared enough for the Boston Jews to carry a Torah of their own, which was rolled to this week’s portion, the beginning of the Book of Exodus. “It is a story of freedom and liberation,” Shire said before the procession. “As we march today, we will think about how that story is ever present in all of our lives.”
Jill Silverstein, a synagogue board member who cofounded its racial justice committee following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, said the committee members studied slavery and racism today, and engaged in self-reflection, said Silverstein, who watched the monument’s progress from her home nearby and called it “exquisite and different.” She said the march on Friday, which the synagogue group discussed with Embrace Boston leaders, is a first step in taking action as partners with others to combat racism.
“It‘s a rekindling of our commitment to racial justice, equity and equality,” Silverstein said.
The march comes at a moment of challenge. Antisemitic incidents and sentiments are on the rise, according to watchdog groups; Boston has been home to several in recent years, including the stabbing of a rabbi in 2021 that ignited shows of solidarity within the Jewish community. What’s more, several recent episodes have challenged Black-Jewish relations, including an extended antisemitic outburst by rapper Kanye West and the promotion of an antisemitic film by NBA star Kyrie Irving.
Emmanuel Church, an Episcopal congregation where the synagogue is located, and Congregation Mishkan Tefila, a Conservative synagogue in Brookline, were early partners for the event that the two synagogues intend as the first step to deepen their work with Black churches on pressing issues of racial and economic justice.
“In this atmosphere of antisemitism and racism, Blacks and Jews need to speak loudly in support of each other and against hatred and prejudice,” said Rabbi Marcia Plumb of Mishkan Tefilah in an email. (Plumb and Shire are married to each other.)
Among others who marched was Rabbi Jim Morgan, who leads congregations at both Harvard Hillel and for residents of Hebrew Senior Life communities, which sent a handful of residents to the event.
“There are people in my community who had taken part in the civil rights movement in the 1960s,” Morgan said.
Other cosponsors include the American Jewish Committee New England; the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston; Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action; the Miller Center at Hebrew College and Center Communities of Brookline, residences of Hebrew Senior Life.
On Friday evening, Reverend Liz Walker, co-chair of the Embrace Boston committee and the pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church, will speak at Central Reform’s Friday night Shabbat service,
“The moment is almost beyond words … because of what the Kings meant here in Boston,” Walker, one of Boston’s most prominent Black clergy members, told JTA by phone. She said she planned to speak about how, at a time of divisiveness and polarization, a memorial “that speaks of love, unity, courage and justice” stands out.
Describing King and Heschel as prophetic voices, Walker said, “Those relationships [between faith leaders and the community] are more vital than ever and have to be lifted up because they are going to guide the world through this kind of minefield of negativity and animosity.”
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At least 40% of Russia’s Oil Export Capacity Halted, Calculations Show
The Druzhba oil pipeline between Hungary and Russia is seen at the Hungarian MOL Group’s Danube Refinery in Szazhalombatta, Hungary, May 18, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
At least 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity is at a halt following Ukrainian drone attacks, a disputed attack on a major pipeline and the seizure of tankers, according to Reuters calculations based on market data.
The shutdown is the most severe oil supply disruption in the modern history of Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter, and has hit Moscow just as oil prices exceeded $100 a barrel due to the Iran war.
Russia’s oil output is one of the main sources of revenue for the national budget and is central to the $2.6 trillion economy.
UKRAINE HAS INCREASED ATTACKS
Ukraine intensified drone attacks on Russia’s oil and fuel export infrastructure this month, hitting all three of Russia’s major western oil export ports, including Novorossiysk on the Black Sea and Primorsk and Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea.
According to Reuters calculations, about 40% of Russia’s crude oil export capabilities – or around 2 million barrels per day, were shut as of Wednesday after the most recent attack.
That includes Primorsk and Ust-Luga as well as the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia.
Kyiv has also targeted pipeline oil pumping stations and refineries. Kyiv says it aims to diminish Moscow’s oil and gas revenue, which accounts for around a quarter of Russia’s state budget proceeds, and weaken its military might.
Russia says the Ukrainian strikes are terrorist attacks and has tightened security across its 11 time zones.
PORTS, PIPELINES, AND TANKERS
Ukraine said that part of the Druzhba pipeline was damaged by Russian strikes at the end of January, while both Slovakia and Hungary demanded Kyiv restart the supplies immediately.
The Novorossiysk oil terminal, which can handle up to 700,000 bpd, has been loading oil below plan since damage from a heavy Ukrainian drone attack early this month.
In addition, frequent seizures of Russia-related tankers in Europe have disrupted 300,000 bpd of Arctic oil exports flowing from the port of Murmansk, traders said.
With its westward export routes under fire, Moscow must rely on oil exports to Asian markets, but those routes are limited due to capacity, traders said.
Russia continues uninterrupted supplies via pipelines to China, including the Skovorodino-Mohe and Atasu-Alashankou routes, as well as ESPO Blend exports by sea via the port of Kozmino.
Together, the three routes account for some 1.9 million bpd of oil.
Russia also continues to load oil from its two far eastern Sakhalin projects, shipping about 250,000 bpd from the island.
Traders also say that Russia is supplying the refineries in neighboring Belarus with around 300,000 bpd of oil.
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Iranian Strikes Pose ‘Existential Threat,’ Gulf States Tell UN
Smoke rises following a reported Iranian drone strike on the fuel storage facility of Bahrain International Airport, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muharraq, Manama, Bahrain, March 12, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
Gulf Arab states told the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday they face an existential threat from Iranian attacks on their infrastructure, which the UN rights chief said might constitute war crimes.
The nearly month-long US-Israeli war on Iran has sparked large-scale Iranian retaliation in the form of drone and missile strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries, killing civilians and driving up oil prices.
“We are seeing an existential threat to international and regional security. This aggressive approach is undermining international law and sovereignty,” Kuwait’s ambassador Naser Abdullah H. M. Alhayen told the Geneva-based council.
Other Gulf states said Iran’s actions were designed to spread terror, with the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador Jamal Jama al Musharakh denouncing Iran’s “attempt to destabilize the international order through reckless adventures of expansionism.”
Countries at the 47-member council adopted a motion by consensus condemning Iran’s “unprovoked and deliberate” strikes, seeking reparations from Iran and asking the UN rights chief to monitor the situation, a document showed.
Iran defended its actions, saying more than 1,500 civilians had been killed in the US-Israeli strikes so far. “We fight on behalf of all of you against an enemy that, if not restrained today, will be beyond containment tomorrow,” said Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva Ali Bahreini, referring to Israel.
Iran, backed by China, will hold its own emergency session on a fatal strike on a primary school on Friday.
The United Nations’ top rights official Volker Turk urged states to end the Iran conflict, describing the situation as extremely dangerous and unpredictable.
“Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must end. If they are deliberate, such attacks may constitute war crimes,” he told the council.
While Gulf states received strong backing in the council on Wednesday, the International Service for Human Rights, an independent NGO, warned against “selective outrage,” calling instead for a focus on violations by all perpetrators.
Oman, which had served as a mediator between the United States and Iran before the conflict, was one of the few countries to acknowledge that US-Israeli strikes had preceded Iran’s retaliatory attacks.
“[They were] the spark that ignited the escalation currently affecting the region and the consequences are threatening states and their vital economic interests and their security and stability,” Ambassador Idris Abdul Rahman Al Khanjari told the council.
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Iran Still Reviewing US Proposal Despite Negative Initial Response, Senior Iranian Official Says
Streaks of light illuminate the sky during an interception attempt amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, March 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Iran is still reviewing a US proposal to end the war in the Gulf, despite an initial response that was negative, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday, indicating that Tehran had so far stopped short of rejecting it outright.
Publicly, Iranian officials poured withering scorn on the prospect of any negotiations with the administration of US President Donald Trump. But an apparent delay in delivering a formal response to Pakistan, which delivered a 15-point proposal on behalf of Washington, appeared to signal that at least some figures in Tehran may be considering it.
The senior Iranian official‘s comments that the proposal was still under review – though the initial response was “not positive” – appeared to contradict a report by Iran‘s Press TV that cited an unidentified official as saying Iran had rejected it.
A senior Pakistani security official said that Pakistan had followed up with Iran‘s foreign minister and was still awaiting a formal reply.
A second Pakistani source said: “The Iranians told us they will get back to us tonight. The media is reporting they’ve said no. But we have not received any official confirmation from Iran. So, we are just waiting. They are all underground and communication is big challenge.”
Another senior Iranian official had earlier confirmed that Tehran had received a proposal and said that talks, if they went ahead, could be held in either Pakistan or Turkey.
PENTAGON TO SEND MORE TROOPS
Oil prices fell and shares regained some ground on Wednesday after reports that Washington had sent the 15-point plan to Iran, with investors hoping for an end to a war that has killed thousands of people and disrupted global energy supplies.
The senior Pakistani security official said Pakistani intelligence had delivered the US proposal to Iran, and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had followed up with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
So far there had been no response from the Iranians, or any confirmed dates or venue for talks, the Pakistani official said.
Three Israeli cabinet sources said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet had been briefed on the US proposal. They said its terms included removing Iran‘s stocks of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curbing its ballistic missile program, and ending funding for regional allies.
The Pentagon is meanwhile planning to send thousands of airborne troops to the Gulf to give Trump more options to order a ground assault, sources have told Reuters, adding to two contingents of Marines already on their way. The first Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard a huge amphibious assault ship could arrive around the end of the month.
IRANIAN MILITARY RULES OUT DEAL WITH TRUMP
Pakistan has offered to host talks attended by senior US officials as soon as this week. A senior ruling party official in Turkey, Harun Armagan, told Reuters that Ankara was also “playing a role passing messages” between Iran and the US.
But so far there has been no public recognition from Iran that it is willing to negotiate at all, and its assertions that it will not do so have become increasingly caustic.
“Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself?” the top spokesperson for Iran‘s joint military command, Ebrahim Zolfaqari, taunted Trump in comments on Iranian state TV.
“People like us can never get along with people like you,” he said. “As we have always said … no one like us will make a deal with you. Not now. Not ever.”
Iran‘s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Beghaei, appearing on television in India, said nuclear talks had already been under way when Trump attacked. He called this “a betrayal of diplomacy” that proved further talks were pointless.
There are “no talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States,” he said. “No one can trust United States diplomacy.”
A senior Israeli defense official said Israel was skeptical Iran would agree to the terms, and that Israel was concerned that US negotiators might make concessions in any talks.
TRUMP’S SOFTER STANCE SOOTHES MARKETS
A source familiar with Israel’s war plans said Israel wanted any US-Iranian agreement to preserve Israel’s option to conduct pre-emptive strikes.
Trump said early in the war that it would end only with Tehran’s “unconditional surrender,” but has abruptly changed tack this week, saying “productive” talks were already under way with unspecified Iranian officials.
His softer stance has brought a respite in financial markets, which have seesawed but largely stabilized since Monday when he postponed a threat to escalate the bombing by attacking Iran‘s civilian energy system.
Iran has derided Trump’s announcement as an attempt to buy time and placate markets.
MORE STRIKES
The war has raged on with no let-up in air attacks against Iran, or in Iranian drone and missile strikes against Israel and US allies.
An Israeli military official, asked whether Israel had adjusted its military plans since Trump said talks were under way, said it was “pretty much business as usual.”
The Israeli military described several new waves of attacks on Iran during the day, including one on Iran‘s construction of ships and submarines.
The semi-official Iranian SNN News Agency said a residential area was hit in Tehran, with rescuers searching the rubble.
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia said they had repelled new drone attacks.
Iran‘s Revolutionary Guards said they had launched new attacks against Israel and US bases in Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain.
Since the start of what the US calls “Operation Epic Fury,” Iran has attacked countries that host US bases and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.
Iran has told the United Nations Security Council and the International Maritime Organization that “non-hostile vessels” may transit the strait if they coordinate with Iranian authorities. In practice, however, only Iran‘s own oil and a handful of ships from friendly countries have made it through.