Stephen Solarz, a nine-term U.S. congressman from New York whose avid interest in Israel propelled him to become a foreign policy leader, died Nov. 29 in Washington.

Solarz, 70, joined the Congress in 1974, when Democrats increased their majority in the wake of the Watergate scandal that felled President Richard Nixon. He won a post on the Foreign Affairs Committee because he sought to represent his heavily Jewish New York City constituency’s keen interest in Israel issues. — ap