His parents were both part of the Palmach, the elite strike force of the Haganah. His mother, Shoshana Spector, was among the founding members of the Palmach and served as its adjutant officer. Spector grew up on kibbutz Givat Brenner and kibbutz Hulata. Iftach Spector saw action in the Six-Day War, and was one of the pilots in- volved in the USS Liberty incident. He took part in Operation Rimon 20, an air battle between Israel and the Soviet Union during the War of Attrition, later fought in the Yom Kippur War, and partici- pated in Operation Opera, Israel's 1981 bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor. During his service with the Israeli Air Force, Spector commanded 101 and 107 squadrons and both the air bases at Rama David and Tel Nof. Spector shot down 12 enemy aircraft, eight while flying the Mirage IlI and four while flying the F-4 Phantom I. In 1992 he was awarded the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for his book Loud and Clear, a novelized account of a fighter squadron during the Yom Kippur War. Since 2001, he has been active in the Movement for Disengagement from the Palestinians. In 2003, Spector was one of 27 reserve pilots and former pilots exempt from re- serve duty ot sign "The pilots' letter" refusing to fly missions against targets in the West Bank and Gaza.