In September 1981, Netzer traveled to Lebanon to visit his father, intending to continue afterwards to Israel. When the Lebanon War broke out, he became stranded there until the fighting subsided. In August 1983, he hired a taxi that brought him to the Lebanon-Israel border, where he crossed into Israel. While settling in Israel, he studied the Hebrew language and the Jewish faith at several kibbutzim. Nezter then converted to Judaism, and changed his Arabic last name Nasser to the Hebrew name Netzer. In May 1985, he moved to Ofra, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, where he currently resides. He is married to Elana Yosef and they have five children.