18 Facts About Steven Sotloff

Steven Joel Sotloff was an American-Israeli journalist.

Steven Sotloff grew up in Pinecrest, graduated from Rumsey Hall School, Kimball Union Academy, and later attended the University of Central Florida with a major in journalism from 2002 to 2004.

Steven Sotloff emigrated to Israel after a Birthright trip inspired him to fall in love with the country, and held citizenship of both the United States and Israel, although his Jewish background and Israeli citizenship were not made public during his work in Muslim countries or during his captivity for fear that the information might endanger his release.

Steven Sotloff had significant interest in the Middle East and its culture and travelled to Yemen to study Arabic.

Steven Sotloff later traveled around the region with a Yemeni mobile number.

Steven Sotloff had worked for the news magazine Time, as well as The Christian Science Monitor, The National Interest, Media Line, World Affairs, and Foreign Policy, and had appeared on CNN and Fox News.

Steven Sotloff's work took him to Syria a number of times, as well as Egypt, Turkey, Libya, and Bahrain.

Steven Sotloff was the reporter who broke the Benghazi story, affirming to CNN that there was no protest that caused the killings and destruction, as US media initially reported.

Steven Sotloff interviewed Libyan security guards who were at the site during the attack.

Steven Sotloff named a Libyan militia operative, Ahmad Abu Khattallah, as the head of the group that attacked the US compound and as the man who himself masterminded and led the attack.

Steven Sotloff later reported on a tit-for-tat retaliation pattern following the US attacks on those who committed the attack on the ambassador's compound in Benghazi.

On July 15,2013, Steven Sotloff arrived in Israel for his former roommate Benny Scholder's wedding and wanted to spend a couple of weeks there.

Steven Sotloff was kidnapped along with his fixer and the fixer's brother and cousins on August 4,2013, near Aleppo after crossing the Syrian border from Turkey.

Steven Sotloff was thought to have been held in Raqqa.

Steven Sotloff's family kept the news of his kidnapping secret, fearing he would be harmed if they went public.

On September 2,2014, the SITE Intelligence Group discovered the video of Steven Sotloff's killing, titled "A Second Message to America" and released by Al-Furqan Media Productions, on what they called "a file-sharing site" and released it to their subscribers.

Steven Sotloff was memorialized by the US Congress in the Congressional Record.

Steven Sotloff won numerous awards and honors both during his life and posthumously:.