Karmi was born in Israel to parents who immigrated to Palestinei n the 1930 - his father from Moldova. He saw action in the Six-Day War, the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War and the Lebanon War, downing nine MIGs in dogfights. In the afternoon of the first day of the Yom Kippur War, October 6, 1973, he thwarted what could have been a serious attack on Tel Aviv, resulting in mass casu- alties. An Egyptian bomber flying over the Mediterranean Sea launched a Kelt cruise missile at the city; it was detected by Israel Defense Forces radar systems and air- raid sirens were activated. Two IAF Mirage jets on standby were dispatched from the Hatzor air base to intercept the missile. Karmi's accomplished the mission. The war began when the Arab coalition jointly launched a surprise attack against Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, which had occurred simultaneously with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in that year. Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed their corresponding ceasefire lines with Israel and invaded the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, respectively. Following the outbreak of hostilities, both the United States and the Soviet Union initiated massive resupply efforts to their respective allies during the war, which led to anear-confrontation between the two nuclear-armed su- perpowers. After finishing his military service, Karmi worked as a pilot for El Al and owned a renovation business.