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I feel strongly about this. Never ra-fee-el ... that is just wrong.
Stress the final syllable, but not too strongly.

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I know a white American child named Rafael. He's my son's closest friend.

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Rah- more like bar, but sometimes like bat, whichever - there's room for accent and preference there, in American English.
Fah- like in bar. No option to pronounce it FEE
(y)EL - a small Y sound appears between the vowels in American English.

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American English can also make the name sound more like Rah-FELL and almost like Ra-FILE ... it's actually Rah-(fa)EL but without the Y sound, so the second A gets left out more.

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I hear people call him Roffy-Yell often, and it bugs me. It bugs him, too - he is learning Spanish so he's aware there is no way there can be an EE sound in his name.

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Rafe (RAYF) to me is a cooler Ralph, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the name Rafael. Annoyingly artificial as a nickname (please just name him Rafe, it's a full name). Rafi (rhyme either coffee or taffy) works. Raf would work.

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I prefer Rafael but Raphael is nice.

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- mirfak