Yona Sotker was born on January 3^rd, 1932, in Tel Aviv. Her parents Zipporah Leah and Yosef Eliezer made aliya from Poland in 1930 and lived in Tel Aviv.

In 1947, when she was 15 years old, she attended Geula High School and was a member of Bnei Akiva religious youth movement. Yona joined the Lehi, through her friend Shalom Makharovsky, a Lehi fighter, she was invited to a safe house where she was interrogated for several hours by two Lehi members and she then pledged allegiance to Lehi. Her membership in Lehi was kept secret from her family and friends. Her nickname in Lehi was “Tehila”.

After joining the resistance, she underwent weapons training in Ra’anana and Tel Aviv and learned how to pass coded messages.

In Lehi she took part in various activities, such as surveillance of the British police building in Tel Aviv and hanging posters. She was in her friend Irit’s apartment on Lebanon Street on the 3rd floor from which Geula Cohen broadcast.

In 1950, Yona met Shimon Sotker, a member of Etzel. The two married in 1951 and had three children: Yehuda, Sarah, Moshe.