Yona Yahav is an Israeli lawyer and politician. Mayor Yahav was born in Haifa during the period of the British Mandate. He studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining a LL.B, before continuing his legal studies at the University of London, where he served as secretary-general of the World Union of Jewish Students. He reached the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Military Police Corps of the Israel Defense Forces. In London, he was secretary-general of the World Union of Jewish Students. Mayor Yahav was an advisor to Minister of Transport Gad Yaacobi and the spokesman of Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem. From 1996 to 1999, he was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Labour Party and served as the chairman of the subcommittee for banking. In 2003 he was elected mayor of Haifa on a joint Shinui-Greens ticket, having already served as deputy mayor. He is also chairman of the Haifa Economic Corporation and previously chaired the Haifa International Film Festival organization and the city's theatre executive. He is also chairman of the Haifa Economic Corporation and previously chaired the Haifa International Film Festival organization and the city's theatre executive.