Amiram Refael

Amiram Refael was born in 1947 in Kiryat Motzkin

Refael was born in Kiryat Motzkin in 1947. His father Yosef, a member of the Egged cooperative, came from Hungary, and his mother Raaya was born in Romania. At 10 he moved with his family to a farm in Kfar Bialik.

He joined the IDF in 1965 and completed the naval officers course in 1968. He served on missile boats and took part in Operation Noa in 1969, which brought 5 Sa'ar 3 boats from Cherbourg to Israel. He studied electrical engineering and electronics at the Technion from 1973 to 1977.

He commanded missile boats and flotillas, and led Flotilla 45 in the Lebanon War. In 1983 he served as senior commander at sea in an operation to bring Ethiopian Jews from the coast of Sudan. As head of the Navy's weapons department from 1986 to 1988, he helped shape projects including Sa'ar 5 and the Dolphin submarines.

He led the Sa'ar 5 planning team in the United States and in 1990 became head of the Sa'ar 5 and submarine project, as a brigadier general. He retired from active service in 1993 and became vice president of marketing at Tadiran. In 1995 he cofounded the consulting firm Liam with Lior Margolin.

He was married to Tzipi and they had 3 children, living in Kokhav Yair. He died of illness in 2012 and was buried in Kokhav Yair.