• Office Sought: Representative, New York (2)
• Birth Date: May 30, 1958
• Occupation: Former Congressional Aide, Public Relations Executive
• Religion: Jewish
• Web site: http://www.house.gov/israel

Education

George Washington University, BA

Steve Israel was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and grew up in Levittown, Long Island, a community of small homes in Nassau County. Israel's father was a sales representative for an electronics firm. Later, his mother and father opened a direct mail company which they operated until their retirement. Israel graduated from McArthur High School in 1976 where he was president of the student council.

During high school he worked as a volunteer on numerous Democratic campaigns, stuffing envelopes and ringing door bells for candidates including Frank Ornstein, who as a Democrat challenged veteran congressman Norman Lent, a Republican in Long Island's fourth congressional district.

After receiving his degree in political science from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., he went to work for Rep. Robert Matsui of California as an administrative assistant, and then for Rep. Richard Ottinger, of Westchester County, N.Y., as an advisor on foreign policy and national security issues.

In 1993, after returning to Long Island, he ran successfully for a seat on the Huntington Town Council.

Israel served as president of Institute on the Holocaust and the Law, a think-tank based in Huntington, N.Y., which explores what happened to lawyers and judges during the Holocaust, and how their counterparts in Nazi Germany used the law to take away the legal rights of citizens.

He won a seat in the U.S. House in 2000.

He has two daughters. His wife was elected a Suffolk County Family Court Judge in 2005.