Yona Efrat

Yona Efrat (; October 2, 1925 - June 4, 1993) was an Israeli military officer. Throughout his career he served as the head of the Central Command, an assistant to the IDF Chief of Staff, and as a member of the Kahan Commission.

Efrat was the commander of the Golani Brigade during the Six-Day War, and he led the brigade in the conquest of the Golan Heights.

Biography Yona Huppert (later Efrat) was born into an Ashkenazi Jewish family in Poland in 1925. In 1935 he immigrated with his family to Palestine, where they settled in Tel Aviv. After immigrating, his surname was Hebraized from "Huppert" to "Efrat", and some time later he joined the Haganah militia.

When the 1948 Palestine War began, Yona Efrat enlisted in the Golani Brigade of the newly formed Israeli military. During this war he was wounded twice and participated in Operation Uvda, the final campaign of the war. During this invasion, Efrat and the Golani Brigade were tasked with taking the hill of Tel Faher, the most fortified part of the Syrian defensive line. At the subsequent Battle of Tel Faher, Efrat's soldiers defeated the Syrians after engaging them in brutal close-quarters combat. The Israeli victory at Tel Faher caused the Syrian defensive line to collapse, which led to Israel conquering the Golan Heights one day later.

By 1973, Efrat was promoted to Major General and was appointed as the head of the regional Central Command, a position he held during the Yom Kippur War.