In long obit for Hedy Epstein, ‘NYT’ buries Palestinian solidarity

New York Times has all but covered up her most significant moral achievement.

sorry, i had a different reaction to the obit. i liked it. aside from the opening/introduction, there were more paragraphs about her activism for palestine than any other acts of justice she pursued. yes, it was at the base of the article, but it did come at the end of her life. also, because the author directly proceeded with quotes from her democracy now as well as her book title “Remembering Is Not Enough” and also “Remember the past, don’t hate, don’t be a bystander”.. it connected these quotes (conscious or not, it doesn’t matter) to her activism for justice in palestine. (and no equivocation or scare quotes around occupation!)

here is the finale of the article:

After the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982, Ms. Epstein channeled her energies into the Palestinian cause. She helped found the St. Louis chapters of the Palestine Solidarity Committee and Jewish Voice for Peace.

Beginning in 2003, she traveled several times to the West Bank as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement. In the West Bank village of Bil’in, near Ramallah, she was tear-gassed while demonstrating against the Israeli occupation and suffered damage to her hearing when sound bombs went off.

She became an impassioned supporter of the Free Gaza Movement and in 2011 was aboard the ship the Audacity of Hope in a flotilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

“I can’t solve every problem — I probably can’t solve any problem, but I have to do whatever it is possible for me to do,” she told Amy Goodman of the radio program “Democracy Now!” in 2014. “I just cannot stand idly by, because if I did — anyone that stands idly by becomes complicit in what is going on.”

Her 1999 memoir, written in German and published in Germany, was titled “Erinnern Ist Nicht Genug” (“Remembering Is Not Enough”).

Ms. Epstein often addressed audiences at schools and community events about the Holocaust. Her talks concluded with an admonition: “Remember the past, don’t hate, don’t be a bystander.”

i thought it made her activism for palestine even stronger because it followed a lifetime of struggle for justice in other arenas (both in life and the article with the exception of the opening highlighting her recent arrest in st louis). so by the time a reader encountered it it becomes difficult for her critics (of which there have been many) to discount her moral fiber.

plus i like the photo they chose at the top, taken in cairo in 09 holding the sign “hunger strike for gaza” with her fist raised. i liked many things about it.

i think it is likely hedy epstein will be remembered as, if not the most famous, one of the most famous holocaust survivors in recorded history — much to the chagrin of her critics. this will be her legacy, and i think this obit serves that legacy.

Source Article from http://mondoweiss.net/2016/05/epstein-palestinian-solidarity/

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