Yona Yahav (; born 19 June 1944) is an Israeli lawyer and politician currently serving as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

since 2024. Yahav previously served as Mayor from 2003 and,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, when he lost re-election to Einat Kalisch-Rotem. In

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, Yahav was re-elected as Mayor, defeating David Etzioni. Yahav also served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

for Labor from 1996 to 1999.

Biography

Yahav was born in

during the period of Mandatory Palestine, as a son of a immigrant from Cologne, Germany. During his national service he reached the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Military Police Corps of the IDF. He studied law at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, gaining a LL.B, before continuing his legal studies at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, where he served as secretary-general of the World Union of Jewish Students. When he returned to Israel, Yahav became active in politics. He was an advisor to Minister of Transport Gad Yaacobi and the spokesman of

Teddy Kollek Theodor "Teddy" Kollek (; 27 May 1911 – 2 January 2007) was an Israeli politician who served as the mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, and founder of the Jerusalem Foundation. Kollek was re-elected five times, in 1969, 1973, 1978 Jerusalem ...

, mayor of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. In 1996 he was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list, and served as the chairman of the subcommittee for banking. However, he lost his seat in the 1999 elections. Yahav later left Labour and joined Shinui. In 2003, he was elected mayor of Haifa on a joint Shinui- Greens ticket, having already served as deputy mayor. On 29 June 2006 he defected to Kadima, but remained mayor of the city. He is also chairman of the Haifa Economic Corporation and previously chaired the Haifa International Film Festival organisation and the city's theatre executive. In the 2018 Haifa mayoral election, he lost to Einat Kalisch-Rotem, who garnered 56% of the votes. However, in the following elections, in 2024, he ran again and defeated David Etzioni by winning 62% of the votes.

Published works

*''The Anatomy of the Fall of the Labor Party'' with Shevah Weiss (1977) *''Libel and Slander'' (1987, updated and re-released in 1996)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yahav, Yona 1944 births People from Haifa Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law alumni Alumni of the University of London Israeli lawyers Deputy mayors of Haifa Mayors of Haifa Living people Israeli Labor Party politicians Shinui politicians The Greens (Israel) politicians Kadima politicians Jews from Mandatory Palestine Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999) Mayors of places in Israel