Aviram Barḳai

Aviram Barḳai was born in 1953 in Ramat HaSharon

Aviram Barkai was born on May 3, 1953, and grew up in the Neve Magen neighborhood of Ramat HaSharon. His father was a career army officer.

He joined the IDF in 1971 and served as a fighter and commander in the Armored Corps. He was wounded on the Golan Heights in the Yom Kippur War and later fought on the Egyptian front. He later returned to service several times, including with Sayeret Matkal and the Shaldag unit.

Between his periods of service he guarded aircraft for El Al in England and raced motorcycles there. From 1985 he guided tours, and from 1988 he worked as a ranger for the Nature Reserves Authority, where he wrote his first book on motorcycle riding. In 1993 he became marketing and training manager for the Land Rover importers in Israel, and in 1997 he founded an advanced driving school.

In 2009 he published a bestselling book on Brigade 188 in the Yom Kippur War, and he leads tours of its battle sites on the Golan Heights. Later books covered the First Squadron in the same war and Brigade 500 in the Lebanon War. He also published interviews with Eli Zeira, head of military intelligence during that war.

He is married with 2 sons and lives in Kokhav Yair.