Neria grew up in Israel, and spent his childhood in the city of Holon with his younger sister, Nurit, and two parents, Zipora and Jacob Neria. At the age of 18, he joined the Israeli army and subsequently participated in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 1982 Lebanon war. In the Yom Kippur War, his performance as a tank commander in the Sinai front (where, in several battles, his tank was hit but he kept fighting, taking command of up to 10 different tanks before being injured and evacuated), earned him the Medal of Valor, the highest decoration for combat bravery in Israel, at the age of 22.