Sayeret Matkal was called to the Heights on the second day of the war, taking part in the fighting as the elite reconnaissance unit of the 36th Division under Refael Eitan.

On October 9, the unit, under the command of Yoni Netanyahu, was called to camp Nafah following an announcement of a penetration of helicopters landing Syrian commando fighters near the base.

After which Avital and his men headed over to the southern front and participated in the fighting on the outskirts of Ismaïlia and the takeover of the Jebel Ataka.

All six Sayeret Matkal soldiers who participated in the break in, including Avital were awarded by the then Defense Minister, Shimon Peres, a book of poems by Natan Alterman in recognition of their courage.

During the war, Avital said, in a conference attended by the Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and the Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan, that he opposed the very idea of armored forces entry to Beirut, it being the capital of a neighboring country.

A few days before Omer Bar Lev replaced him in the position, Avital participated in the rescue of the kidnapped hostages in line 300.

The incident occurred while trying to arrest the engineer Mahmoud Abu Hunud, who was then named number 1 most wanted in the West Bank and belonged to Hamas' military wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.

At the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada, acting as the advisor on terrorism to the Chief of General Staff, Avital submitted a report on streamlining the civil and military operations against the Palestinians, in which he recommended to split the control of the West Bank fighting to another Division (A few months later the Judea Division was founded and took over for some of the routine security missions in the sector), and the increased cooperation between the IDF and the Shin Bet.

On July 19, 2006, he was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and served in this capacity until that government's end of the term, in April 2009.

He holds a BA (cum laude) in Soil and Water sciences and in Agricultural Economics and Management from the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University, and has a degree (MPA) in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University where he studied as Member of the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program (Wexner Foundation).