Yael Rom

[4][5] Born in Tel Aviv in 1932, Rom graduated high school in 1950 and was soon drafted into the Israel Defense Forces Youth Corps.

For six months she petitioned the IDF to return to the air force, meeting with considerable resistance, before her request was finally granted.

She was called up in October 1956 to participate in Operation Machbesh (Press), the Israeli parachute drop that launched the Suez War.

Rom was on board the first aircraft to land at Sharm el-Sheik after its capture by Israeli forces,[4] and dropped paratroops at El-Tor on November 3.

Although a longtime member of the Likud, in 1983 she ran for the post of mayor of Haifa at the head of an independent list, coming in second with 17.9 percent of the vote.