Zohar Chamberlain-Regev, a former Israeli Jew who lost her leg in an accident near Jerusalem, was the only woman on last week’s flotilla intercepted on its way to Gaza who still holds Israeli citizenship. Israeli authorities are handling her case separately from the other flotilla participants. While the others were deported from Israel after the widely publicized visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Regev was brought before a judge at the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court on suspicion of infiltration offenses, obstruction of an investigation and endangering public security. She was released on a personal bond of 5,000 shekels and banned from entering Gaza for 60 days.
Who is Zohar Regev and what is her connection to Jerusalem?
Zohar Regev, 54, was born and raised in Kibbutz Kfar HaHoresh, near Nazareth, a secular left-wing kibbutz. Her parents, both born in Tel Aviv, were educators; her father worked in the cowshed and chicken coop and went through a political shift after the Six-Day War, coming to the conclusion that “these territories must not be held.” She describes a home that was aware of the injustice done to Palestinians, though not necessarily one with a clearly anti-Zionist outlook.
As a teenager, she studied in Ginegar and at the high school in Yifat. She was supposed to spend a year of national service with the Working and Studying Youth movement in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood, but at age 17 she was seriously injured in a bus accident while leaving Jerusalem and lost a leg. She has described that loss as a “gift” that spared her from serving in the IDF. Regev later studied economics and took part in an honors program at the University of Haifa, where she was admitted based on a high psychometric exam score despite not completing high school, but she did not finish the degree. She later worked as a secretary, tried to establish a community in the Galilee, worked at Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava and volunteered at Kfar Rafael, a community for people with special needs.
In 2004, she left Israel and lived in Spain for 14 years, where she was involved in coordinating the Spanish campaign for the Gaza flotillas. She owned the women’s boat to Gaza, “Zaytouna-Oliva,” which was stopped in 2016. In the 2018 flotilla, Regev headed the boat “Al-Awda,” meaning “The Return.”
After her years in Spain, Regev lived for about two and a half years in Bethlehem, where she volunteered at a natural history museum, lived with Palestinian families in refugee camps and became closely familiar with life under “the occupation.” She converted to Islam and describes the move as a spiritual experience and a declaration of belonging. Regev is married to a Muslim man from Bethlehem. She currently lives in Germany, holds German citizenship and receives social support.
Regev defines herself as an “anarchist” and refuses to “normalize the occupation” by living in Israel.
