Eli Regev

Eli Regev was born in 1948 in Nicosia

Eli Regev was born on March 18, 1948, in Nicosia, Cyprus. He was the first child of Esther and Natan Honigsfeld, Holocaust survivors who had been deported to Cyprus after reaching Haifa on an immigrant ship. In April 1948 the family moved to Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov, then to Moshav Liman in 1952 and later to Nahariya.

He attended the David Remez elementary school in Nahariya and joined the local sailing club. He then studied at the Mevo'ot Yam maritime school in Michmoret and took a boat commanders' course with the naval Gadna in Acre.

Regev joined the IDF in September 1966 and served on torpedo boats. He fought in the Six-Day War and in the Battle of Romani in July 1967, for which he received a commendation from the Navy commander. After the naval officers' course he served on missile boats and was deputy commander of INS Miznak in the Yom Kippur War.

He later commanded INS Eilat, INS Noga and the new missile boat INS Moledet, which took part in a 1980 naval visit to Alexandria, Egypt. In September 1981 he became commander of the control flotilla at Haifa naval base.