Spector Denied Entry, Departs Israel

After waiting two weeks for an official decision on whether she would be allowed entry into Israel, Jewish peace activist and Falls Church native Jamie Spector was denied access by an Israeli judge and was forced to leave the country due to her ties with the Palestinian led organization, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

The decision came Saturday, three days after fellow American ISM member Anne Petter was allowed restricted access to the country.

After being forced to leave the Israel, Spector traveled to Florence, Italy, where she will spend the next week recovering and doing press work before she returns to California.

On Monday Anne Petter and other members of ISM held a press conference in East Jerusalem to address the continued denial of ISM members traveling to Israel.

Spector participated in the press conference by phone and talked about her own motivation to participate in demonstrations against what she claims is oppressive Israeli policy.

In report released by ISM from that press conference, Spector was quoted as saying, “As a Jewish person I feel that it is very much my responsibility as someone working diligently for the human rights of my own people as a minority…to also be working for the human rights of all people,” adding “this is very much a part of my own Jewish identity.”

While the Israeli Embassy declined to comment on Spector’s case, Mark Regev, from the embassy’s press office, clarified Israel’s position on ISM. He said that while ISM is not designated as a terrorist organization, “They have been involved in violent demonstrations and they have been apologists for Palestinian violence.”

By phone to the News-Press Tuesday from Italy, Spector contested that portrayal of ISM’s actions, and pointed to recent demonstrations in Nablus and Jerusalem where large numbers of Palestinian demonstrators turned out to peacefully protest what they claim to be oppressive conditions that restrict the ability to move around the country and religious freedom.

When she returns to California, Spector will go back to work with the San Francisco public schools, where she helps provide support and child care for impoverished and working class families in the city.

Glad to be free from the room where she spent the last two weeks, Spector said that though she wasn’t allowed into the country, she didn’t consider it a waste of time. “I think we were able to accomplish something there,” said Spector.