the heavy lifting in this piece will be done by rabbi, henry seigman. of the tv program, democracy now. >> henr the former executive director of the american jewish congress. long described as one of the nation's big three jewish organizations along with the american jewish committee and the antidefamation league. henry seigman was born in 1930 in germany. three years later, the nazis came to power. after freeing nazi troops, his family eventually moved to the united states. his father was a leader of the european movement, pushing for the creation of a jewish state. in new york, henry studied and was ordained. he later became head of the synagogue council of america. after his time, he became a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. he now serves as president of the u.s. middle east project. >> ran bycouldn't israel be doing something in preventing a disaster that is playing out now in terms of the destruction of human lives. couldn't they have done something that didn't require that cost? >> he continues asking pointedly, why the u.s. gove