Icelandic President (and former head of the Communist Party of Iceland) Olafur Ragnar Grímsson and his wife, Dorrit Moussaieff.

Iceland’s First Lady, Dorrit Mouissaieff, was detained by police at the Israeli border Monday before leaving the country after a three-day private visit. According to a report in Morgunblaðið, Israeli authorities found fault with the fact that Mouissaieff, who was born in Israel but holds a British passport, was not carrying an Israeli passport.
Filmed footage of Moussaieff arguing with Israeli authorities and making disparaging comments about Israelis was shown on Israeli television yesterday.
In an interview with Iceland’s RÚV yesterday, Moussaieff admitted to having lost her temper with border police.
Excerpts from the interview follow:
“What happened is that I was not allowed to be in Israel because I did not have an Israeli passport… What I meant to say was it is no wonder that all the people of the world hates the people of Israel. Many of them, not all of them. Some of the people were very helpful to me, the two airline handlers were very helpful. I lost my temper, I couldn’t say anything else. And at that point, before, she [an immigration authority] didn’t know that I was married to Ólafur [the president]. No, somebody told her but I didn’t tell her. And I said something like, ‘how can you do this to the first lady of another country? I’m not your possession, you can’t behave like this.’ And what happened then she said, ‘I couldn’t care less who you are. I’ve never heard of Iceland, and the people there don’t interest me at all.’

The Israeli Embassy in Norway, which also serves Iceland, has released a statement in which it expresses its regret over an incident in which Iceland’s First Lady Dorrit Moussaieff was detained at the Israeli border. According to the statement, Israeli citizens must by law carry Israeli passports when arriving in or leaving the country, and Moussaieff was not carrying such a passport, Morgunbladid reports. The Embassy further states that it was not aware of Ms. Moussaieff’s travels and therefore was unable to make arrangements to assist her in this matter.
Dorrit Moussaieff was born in Israel but holds a British passport, and says she does not consider herself an Israeli citizen.

Here is some more on it...

Dorrit Moussaieff, the Israeli-born wife of president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, was detained at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport recently, after she got into an argument with security personnel who refused to acknowledge her British passport. Part of the incident was captured on film and shown on Israeli television, where it was described as an international incident.

Moussaieff, who was in Israel on a private visit, is a British citizen despite being born in Jerusalem in 1950. She told RÚV that the airport staff demanded that she present them with an Israeli passport. When she couldn´t produce one, she says they were rude and aggressive, asking her suggestive and personal questions such as “what is it like to have a husband who’s not a Jew?”

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, JTA, has reported that during the exchange the first lady responded with various insults of her own, including the statement: “This is why everyone hates the Jews.” Moussaieff told RÚV that in the heat of the moment she may have gone too far, but that the rudeness of the security staff was inexcusable.