Avi Har-Even, Defense Min. Prize winner, dies of Acre riots injuries

Even was a Israeli Defense Ministry Prize winner and the former-head of the Israeli Space Agency. He was 84 at the time of his death.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Avi Har Even. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Avi Har Even.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Avi Har Even, who was seriously injured during the riots in Acre last month, has passed of his injuries at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa on Sunday night.
Even was a Israeli Defense Ministry Prize winner and the former-head of the Israeli Space Agency. He was 84 at the time of his death.
During the riots that led up to and continued through the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, two luxury hotels were destroyed. Even was residing in one of them at the time.
He was admitted to Rambam with burns and with severe smoke inhalation. He was intubated and sedated throughout his stay at the hospital.

His family thanked the hospital staff for the "dedicated and professional treatment that Avi received over the last few weeks."

Har-Even, Romanian-born, graduated from the Jerusalem Hebrew Gymnasium, and went on to serve in the IDFs Artillery Corps, eventually becoming an officer in the 402nd and 404th battalions.
In 1959, he was sent by the IDF to complete a degree in electrical engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, after which he returned to the IDF as an officer heading artillery research development.
Har-Even went on to serve as a commander on the Hawk missile battery near the Dimona nuclear facility.
"Avi Har Even was brutally murdered by those who burned a hotel down," tweeted Joint List MK Ofer Cassif, sending his condolences to the family.
"We need to face reality: There are those who are interested in violence, who use violence as for their political gains," he continued. "We need to stand strongly against them. Too much blood has been spilled. May his memory be a blessing."

Miriam Peretz sent her condolences to the family as well, adding that she hopes "the vigilantes who committed this heinous act be served their justice quickly."

In 1965, he went to Uganda to help establish the country's air defense. He went on to found the Meital unit which encouraged and headed partnerships and research with other countries on security defense systems.  
Har Even also served in various senior positions in the Israeli aerospace industry, serving as the head of the Israel Space Agency in 1995, remaining in that position until September 2004.


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