[2][3] His parents were Maghrebi Jewish immigrants to France from North Africa: his father was from Morocco and his mother was from Tunisia.

He was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces in August 1990 and completed training for the elite Sayeret Matkal unit in December 1992.

One of his comrades said that "during his service Emmanuel became the fighter who took part in the greatest number of operations in the unit's history.

The only two operations that he is publicly acknowledged to have participated in are the abduction of Amal commander Mustafa Dirani in 1994 and the 2003 rescue of taxi driver Eliyahu Gorel after he had been kidnapped by Palestinians and held in a cellar in Beitunia.

[4] On April 27, 2008, the head of the IDF Intelligence Division awarded Emmanuel with the "Head of Regional Command Citation" (Hebrew: צל"ש אלוף) "for his numerous years of dedication to the security of the State of Israel and his participation in several IDF operations throughout the Second Lebanon War.