The Nazi regime’s systematic, industrialized killing of Jews and other people seen as undesirable was abominable. So was the earlier Armenian genocide and the more recent genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, East Timor and other places. To remember these is to be vigilant now.  To ask questions about the actions of Pius XII during World War II and the wisdom of his canonization is fair enough. It’s also essential to honestly examine Christian theology and practice for anti-Jewish currents. But perhaps the most effective way to remember past oppression is to act against present injustice. Hedy Epstein is an example of this. Hedy is a survivor of the WW II Nazi-organized Jewish Holocaust. Now living in the USA she worked at some of the Nuremburg trials and is an activist in various causes. Epstein recently took part in the non-violent protests marking the one-year anniversary of Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip. Gaza is still under Israeli blockade and Hedy was part of the large group that sought to bring hope and help by entering it from Egypt.

Gaza is a giant prison for 1.5 million Palestinians. This time Egyptian authorities prevented the protestors from approaching Gaza’s Rafah gate. Like Israel, Egypt receives huge amounts of US aid. This ‘reward’ for its peace agreement with Israel also means Egypt works in tandem with Israeli/US policy. Thus the Palestinians continue to be cornered and stateless. Epstein is part of a number of Jewish people speaking out against the Israeli occupation and control of Palestinian lives and territory. Another is historian Ilan Pappe whose book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (1997), exposes the myths around the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.

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