Yair Golan

His mother, Rachel, was born in Tel Aviv to Aryeh Rapoport, who immigrated from Ukraine in 1921, and Hana, born in moshav Nachalat Yehuda, now a part of Rishon LeZion.

His elder brother is a Geography and History professor in the University of Haifa and his younger sister is a special-education teacher in the Shamir Medical Center.

Golan studied at Haviv Elementary School and "Yadlin" School in Rishon LeZion and Ort Singalovsky School in Tel Aviv.

Golan was the head of the "nest council" (one rank above instructors) of Rishon LeZion in the leftist Labour Zionist youth movement Working and Studying Youth.

His father, Gershon Goldner, fled with his parents to Palestine from Nazi Germany in 1935.

His father served in the IDF and his last role was a senior technical assistant to the chief communications and electronics officer at the rank of lieutenant colonel (Sgan Aluf).

Yair Golan (Hebrew: יָאִיר גּוֹלָן ; born May 14, 1962) is an Israeli politician and senior military officer.

Golan was drafted into the IDF in 1980.

After successfully passing the flight academy acceptance tests, he decided to follow his brother's steps and volunteer for the paratrooper brigade instead.

He served as a soldier and a squad leader and fought in the 1982 Lebanon War.

After completing Officer Candidate School he became an infantry officer and returned to the Paratroopers Brigade as a platoon leader.

Golan served as the commander of the Brigade's Anti-tank company and led the 890 Paratroop Battalion in counter-guerrilla operations in the South Lebanon conflict and in the First Intifada.

Afterwards he commanded the 91st Division and the Judea and Samaria Division.

In 1993 he served as a Battalion Commander in IDF Officers' School and afterwards served as Judea and Samaria Division's Operations Branch Officer.

Between the years 1996–1997 he Commanded the Eastern brigade of Lebanon Liaison Unit and was injured in an encounter with a squad of Hezbollah militants.

Afterwards he served as the head of the Operations section in the Operations Directorate.

During the Second Intifada, Golan commanded the Nahal Infantry Brigade.

From 2008–2011, Golan served as the Commander of Home Front Command, which he led through Operation Cast Lead.

In July 2011 he served as the Commander of Israeli Northern Command, and in December 2014 as Deputy Chief of General Staff.

According to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, prior to Gadi Eisenkot's appointment as Chief of Staff in February 2015, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu preferred Golan over Eisenkot.

However, Eisenkot has been chosen, and Golan continued in his role.

Golan retired from active service in March 2018, after being replaced by Aluf Aviv Kochavi in May 2017.

Golan was a candidate for replacing Gadi Eisenkot, and relevant discussions were held during 2018.

Strong objection from non-political parties due to his controversial statement during the holocaust day speech.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman ended up choosing Kochavi over Golan.

On October 7, 2023, the same day that the October 2023 Gaza–Israel conflict began, Golan put on his uniform and arrived in his private vehicle to the Gaza envelope, which was subject to a surprise attack on Israel, and rescued survivors in the area of the massacre at the Nature Festival near Re'im.

He described what he saw as very difficult scenes and claimed that the battle of that day was the worst defeat of the State of Israel ever.

Yair Golan was awarded 4 campaign ribbons

He served as the Deputy Minister of Economy in the Thirty-sixth Israeli government, and served as a Member of the Knesset representing Meretz from 2019–2022.

He is a reserve major general (Aluf) in the Israel Defense Forces.

During his military service he served, among other roles, as the IDF Deputy Chief of Staff, Commander of the Home Front Command and Commander of the Northern Command.

Golan was born and raised in Rishon LeZion.

On 26 June 2019, Ehud Barak announced that Golan would join him in forming a new party called Israel Democratic Party which intended on challenging Netanyahu in the September 2019 Israeli legislative election.

The party later joined the Democratic Union alliance to contest the September election.

Golan was placed third on the list and served as a Member of the twenty-second Knesset.

He re-activated the Democratic Choice party in January 2020, becoming its leader and joining the Democratic Union again in advance of the 2020 Israeli legislative election.

In December 2020, Golan announced his accession to Meretz, and was elected to the twenty-fourth Knesset.

He was appointed Deputy Minister of Economy under Orna Barbivai.

On July 6, 2022, he announced his candidacy for the leadership of the Meretz party ahead of the elections for the twenty-fifth Knesset.

He lost to Zehava Gal-On, but was elected fourth in the list elections and placed fifth.