Eran Peleg, a 75-year-old former Israeli Air Force fighter pilot from Kfar Saba, was killed Friday when a light aircraft crashed near Kafr Qara in northern Israel’s Wadi Ara region.
A 33-year-old man who was piloting the aircraft was also injured. The two had taken off from the Megiddo airfield before a malfunction occurred and the aircraft crashed. The circumstances of the accident are under investigation by police and the aviation safety investigation authority.
The aircraft crashed in an open area and caught fire. The blaze spread to a nearby wooded area and toward homes in Kafr Qara before firefighters brought it under control. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the fire.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said it received a report of the crash at 9:12 a.m. Friday. The injured pilot, who suffered burns to his limbs, was rescued from the aircraft and taken to Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.
His condition was initially described as serious, but the hospital later said that after he was examined in its trauma unit, his condition was assessed as moderate.
Peleg was a former Israeli Air Force fighter pilot who held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the reserves. He later entered the technology sector and also worked as a flight instructor at the Sky Aviation flight school.
In a 2020 interview with Yedioth Tikshoret journalist Mirit Kushnir-Strumza, Peleg spoke about a venture he had founded with Iyad Bader, an Arkia pilot, aimed at bringing the high-tech industry to Hurfeish, a Druze village in northern Israel.
The two had met about 12 years earlier at the Megiddo Aviation flight school, where Peleg, an expert in computers, information systems and model-driven software engineering, served as chief instructor. Bader joined the school after completing his military service, earned a civilian pilot’s license and later became a commercial pilot.
Peleg
(Photo: Nachum Segal)
In 2020, they founded Metafor, a company specializing in model-driven development. Its technology allowed users to simulate planned processes using flowcharts. At the time, its customers included Israel Aerospace Industries, the Israeli Air Force and Mobileye.
The company employed seven people, most of them software and computer engineers, and established its office in central Hurfeish.
Peleg served as CEO and oversaw development and marketing, while Bader managed business development and fundraising. Their goal went beyond building a technology company: They wanted to create high-tech employment opportunities for residents of Hurfeish and the surrounding region.
“In Israel today, traveling to Tel Aviv to demonstrate against the Nation-State Law is a waste of time, but establishing a high-tech company in the village, close to home, is exactly the revolution the Druze need to make,” Peleg said in the 2020 interview, referring to the controversial 2018 law that defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
“Among the members of my family and that of Iyad, my partner in the venture, there are engineers and Ph.D.s,” he said. “At a meeting, we explained our product. They asked questions, discussed it together and argued a little. It was clear to everyone that if our venture succeeds, it will remain in Hurfeish and dramatically change the reality here.”
Peleg said at the time that his relationship with Bader had developed over many years.
Peleg
(Photo: Nachum Segal)
“When they asked me to become chief instructor at Megiddo, I drove to Iyad’s home, and he helped me prepare materials and implement ideas,” Peleg said. “Our cooperation was excellent, both professionally and personally, and helped the school grow. Later our paths separated, and two years ago he called and said it was time to do something and bring high-tech to Hurfeish using the technology I had developed.”
The venture was intended in part to allow engineers and other residents of the region to work close to home rather than commute to Israel’s central high-tech hubs.
“I used to live in Kfar Vradim and had to travel regularly to Tel Aviv for work. It’s far,” Peleg said. “If I and the technology I developed can contribute something, I’ll gladly do it and establish a company that will make children in Hurfeish start thinking about high-tech.”
Peleg said one of the company’s employees had already received job offers with higher salaries but chose to remain with the venture.
“The principle is important to him just as it is important to me, and my part in this story is to succeed in establishing the software company in Hurfeish,” he said.
At the time, Peleg said the venture had begun attracting customers and had signed agreements with two marketing companies in Japan and India. He stressed that even if the startup were eventually acquired, he wanted its operations to remain in Hurfeish.
“Even if there is an exit, the company will continue to grow here, provide employment and allow people to work in the periphery and fulfill their potential,” Peleg said. “It gives me tremendous satisfaction, and I have all the energy in the world to invest whatever is needed to get where we want to go.”