Henry Siegman

{{short description|German-born American (born 1930)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2014}} {{Infobox writer | name = Henry Siegman | image = | imagesize = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1930 | birth_place = Frankfurt, Germany | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Writer and journalist | nationality = American | ethnicity = | citizenship = | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | website = | portaldisp = }}

'''Henry Siegman''' (born 1930) is a German-born American. He is President of the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP),<ref>[https://usmep.us/ U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP).]</ref> an initiative focused on U.S.-Middle East policy that strives to advance peace through a dignified resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. To examine how those issues interact with the shifting terrain of global geopolitics, it was launched by the Council on Foreign Relations in 1994, and established as an independent policy institute in 2006,<ref>[https://usmep.us/mission/ About USMEP.]</ref> originally under the chairmanship of General (Ret.) Brent Scowcroftand. As of July 1, 2016 Siegman assumed the title of President Emeritus of the USMEP.

Mr. Siegman is a former National Director of the American Jewish Congress, serving as its executive director for 16 years.<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/henry-siegman/ Henry Siegman Bio]</ref><ref>[https://usmep.us/henry-siegman/ Henry Seigman President Emeritus]</ref> He is a former non-resident visiting research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and a former Senior Fellow on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations.

==Early life and education== Siegman, a Jewish American, was born in 1930 in Frankfurt, Germany.<ref>[http://www.eurotopics.net/en/presseschau/autorenindex/autor-siegman-henry/ Brief biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120803064126/http://www.eurotopics.net/en/presseschau/autorenindex/autor-siegman-henry/ |date=August 3, 2012 }} at the ''Euro|topics magazine''.</ref> Moving to the United States, Siegman studied and was ordained as an Orthodox Rabbi by Yeshiva Torah Vodaas. He served as a United States Army chaplain in the Korean War, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.<ref name="Hedges2002NYT">{{cite news|last1=Hedges|first1=Chris|title=Separating Spiritual and Political, He Pays a Price|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/13/nyregion/public-lives-separating-spiritual-and-political-he-pays-a-price.html|access-date=13 March 2018|work=The New York Times|date=13 June 2002}}</ref><ref name="forward.com">[http://forward.com/articles/163410/behind-henry-siegmans-turn-on-israel/?p=all Behind Henry Siegman's Turn on Israel]</ref>

==Career== He is a former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to that, he was the executive director of the American Jewish Congress (1978–1994).<ref name="Hedges2002NYT" />

==Political views== Siegman is a critic of Israeli policies in the West Bank.<ref name="youtube.com">[http://youtube.com/watch?v=UrGvjNkDd0k Henry Siegman On Democracy Now! July 30, 2014.]</ref>

He refers to Israel as a "de-facto apartheid" state and has said in 2012 and 2014 that, without substantial objective change, the "two-state solution is dead".<ref name="forward.com" /><ref name="youtube.com"/>

Siegman supports the idea of moral equivalence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.<ref>Henry Siegman, [https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n10/henry-siegman/the-two-state-solution-an-autopsy- 'The Two-State Solution: An Autopsy,'] London Review of Books Vol. 40 No. 10 · 24 May 2018 pages 17-18</ref><ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jun-18-op-siegman18-story.html Is 'moral equivalency' really so wrong?]</ref> He advocates engagement with Hamas<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18939 Hamas: The Last Chance for Peace?] by Henry Siegman, ''The New York Review of Books'', April 27, 2006.</ref> and believes that Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is able to form a unity government between Hamas and his own Fatah and make peace with Israel.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/opinion/27iht-edsiegman.4028715.html The Hamas factor] by Robert Malley and Henry Siegman, ''The International Herald Tribune'', December 27, 2006.</ref> Siegman met with Hamas' leader Khaled Mashal in Syria.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/world/middleeast/15gaza.html Hamas and Gaza Emerge Reshaped After Takeover] by Ethan Bronner, June 15, 2008.</ref>

He says that Yasser Arafat made a "disastrous mistake" in rejecting the peace offer, but that "based on my 14 years of dealings with Arafat, I reject the notion that he was bent on Israel's destruction".<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/international/middleeast/arafatobit.html Yasir Arafat, Father and Leader of Palestinian Nationalism, Dies at 75] by Judith Miller, ''The New York Times'', November 11, 2004.</ref> Siegman is critical of Ariel Sharon, about whom he wrote: "The war Sharon is waging is not aimed at the defeat of Palestinian terrorism but at the defeat of the Palestinian people and their aspirations for national self-determination".<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16831 Sharon's Phony War] by Henry Siegman, ''The New York Review of Books'', December 18, 2003.</ref>

He strongly defended former president Jimmy Carter's book ''Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid''.<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070122/siegman Hurricane Carter] by Henry Siegman, ''The Nation'', January 4, 2007.</ref> He has also criticized the peace efforts by Ehud Olmert and George W. Bush.<ref name="MEPPScam">[http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n16/sieg01_.html The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam] Henry Siegman, ''London Review of Books'', August 16, 2007</ref> Siegman has described the process as a "scam" because of a "consensus reached long ago by Israel's decision-making elites that Israel will never allow the emergence of a Palestinian state".<ref name="MEPPScam" />

==Reception== Jeffrey Donovan, writing in Radio Free Europe, calls him "a leading U.S. expert on the Middle East".<ref>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2004/03/mil-040323-rferl01.htm Middle East: Will Israel's Killing Of Hamas Leader Affect U.S. Policy?] by Jeffrey Donovan, Radio Free Europe, March 23, 2004.</ref>

Nathan Guttman, writing in ''The Forward'' said that Siegman helped to publicize the "Saudi plan", after it was revealed publicly for the first time in ''The New York Times''.<ref>[http://www.forward.com/articles/saudis-push-bush-team-on-peace-plan/ Saudis Push Bush Team On Peace Plan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508233553/http://www.forward.com/articles/saudis-push-bush-team-on-peace-plan/ |date=May 8, 2008 }} by Nathan Guttman, ''The Forward'', January 19, 2007.</ref> In addition, Guttman writes that Siegman is in the "far-left corner of the Middle East worldview".<ref name="forward.com" />

Journalist David Rieff said, in 2004, that Siegman is "perhaps the most perceptive American observer-participant in the last two decades of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations".<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E7DE143AF936A15757C0A9629C8B63 Arafat Among the Ruins] by David Rieff, ''The New York Times'', April 25, 2004.</ref>

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said that Siegman was known as holding left-of-center views that fit with the American Jewish Congress's liberal approach, and that "when he left the organization, it became clearer he was no longer a critic of Israel, that his criticism borders being anti-Israel".<ref name="forward.com"/>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== * [http://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/1/a_slaughter_of_innocents_henry_siegman ''A Slaughter Of Innocents''], Henry Siegman's interview with ''Democracy Now!'' on Palestine in general and Gaza war in 2014

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegman, Henry}} Category:1930 births Category:American Jewish Congress members Category:American male journalists Category:Journalists from New York City Category:American political writers Category:Living people Category:Yeshiva University alumni Category:The New School alumni Category:United States Army personnel of the Korean War Category:American military chaplains Category:Korean War chaplains Category:Rabbis in the military Category:20th-century American rabbis Category:21st-century American rabbis