Anastassia Michaeli

Anastassia Michaeli
Date of birth	(1975-07-12) 12 July 1975
Place of birth	Leningrad, Soviet Union
Year of aliyah	1997
Knessets	18
Party represented in Knesset
2009–2013	Yisrael Beiteinu

Anastassia Michaeli (Russian: Анастасия Михаэли (Михалевская), Hebrew: אנסטסיה מיכאלי ‎, born 12 July 1975) is a Russian-born Israeli journalist, television presenter, and politician. She served as a Member of Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu between 2009 and 2013. During her Knesset term she was active in the international arena as chairperson of the Israeli parliamentary friendship leagues with the legislatures of Estonia, Austria and Switzerland. Since 2009 she has represented the Knesset in official delegations to the European Union, France, Great Britain and Taiwan.

Biography

Early life and education

Michaeli was born in Leningrad in the Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg in Russia) to a Christian family of ethnic Russian origin. Gaining her education in a school focusing on the English language, she was able to help provide for her family by tutoring English to children. At this time, she headed the International Friendship Club active in her school and aimed at hosting foreign delegations and strengthening international relations between youth. In her teens she practiced various sports, such as cross country skiing.

Michaeli studied for a year in a local university with a major in humanities. She holds a Master's degree in electrical engineering and communications from the Saint Petersburg University of Telecommunications. During her studies she became Miss St. Petersburg in 1995, she took a year off of her university studies to live in Paris, where she worked as a model.

She met Josef Samuelson, an Israeli businessman of Latvian-Jewish extraction at a technology exhibition in St. Petersburg. At the time she met Samuelson, he was employed in Moscow by Tadiran, an Israeli electrical supplier and is also 10 years her senior, originally from Riga, Latvia, immigrated to Israel in 1971, at the age of 11. They married and made Israel their home in 1997. After Michaeli converted to Judaism, the couple remarried by practices of Halakha. In Israel, after the birth of her second son, she underwent an Orthodox Jewish conversion, culminating with the couple’s re-marriage, this time according to strictly religious rites in 2000.

After studying in an ulpan, Michaeli graduated from Bar-Ilan University with a certificate in business administration.

Her media career began in 1998. In 2002 she joined the new Israel Plus Russian-language television station, where she worked as a journalist and presenter of Life's Pleasures, and the daily Morning program.

Though not born Jewish herself or having any Jewish ancestry, Michaeli has since then become a convert, thus passing on Jewish identity to her eight children. Michaeli also keeps a kosher home, and is circumspect not to mix meat and milk, and has enrolled her children in state religious schools. Since embracing the Jewish lifestyle, Michaeli adheres to a strict Zionist philosophy within her family as well as in her career. She lives in Rishon LeZion with her husband and their eight children. Her eighth child was born during her parliamentary term.

Political career

In 2005, major politicians began approaching Michaeli to join their party and run for office. At his personal invitation, Michaeli decided to join Ariel Sharon's Kadima party. In the 2006 elections, Kadima failed to win enough votes to secure her with a Knesset seat.

In December 2008, Michaeli accepted Avigdor Lieberman's offer to join his Yisrael Beiteinu party. She was placed ninth on its list for the 2009 elections. Michaeli became a Knesset member when the party won 15 seats.

Eighteenth Knesset

Michaeli's priorities as a Member of Knesset are social and family issues, education, science and sports, as well as homeland national security and international relations.

Michaeli endorsed more than seventy bills, completing the legislative process for five of them: Prohibition on sales of multiple school books in a sealed package, prevention of violence against medical personnel, minimal penalty on desertion of hit and run victims, stopping payments and pensions to convicted Knesset members, and annulment of conditions preventing payment of alimony due to multiple travels abroad.

In her fields of interests Michaeli is involved in various aspects:

• Education system: Michaeli works to enhance equality in education, both financially and pedagogically. In 2010 she presented a national work plan on school books including long-term planning, uniformity in school books for all schools, mandatory disqualification of books before issuing new editions, etc. In her capacity as chairperson of the Lobby for the Promotion of Family Rights, Michaeli is following up on the implementation of the government resolution to promote employment among mothers of children aged 0–5.

• Women and family rights: As chairperson of the Lobby for the Promotion of Family Rights, Michaeli is working to reduce living costs and the family budget, among other things by subsidization of day care centers and the encouragement of women to enter the labor market. As a member of the Committee on the Status of Women she initiated committee sittings on salary gaps, firing of pregnant women, and assistance to patients of rheumatoid arthritis.

• Informal education: Services of informal education include a wide range of services by various providers. A research ordered by Michaeli pointed out the lack of a clear understanding of responsibilities between the local government and central government, as well as the extent of their involvement in the field. In her actions to enhance supervision on educational institutes, she began legislation for mandatory supervision on all educational institutions.

• Media: Michaeli introduced a work plan to oversee the classification of broadcasts of harmful nature, containing violent or sexual contents. Through legislation and enhancing regulation over broadcasting authorities, the Age of Information will enable more parental control and setting of boundaries.

• Science: Michaeli focuses on the challenges of the Age of Information, the dangers of the internet and social networks. She is also working to promote scientific education, promotion of low-tech industries and women in science.

• Sports: Promotion of various sport fields (women in sports, disabled sports, etc.) and prevention of violence in sports.

• Foreign relations: Continuous work with decision makers in international forums, alongside activity in the Knesset lobbies for promotion of relations with Europe and with Christian communities worldwide. Aside from acting as chairperson of the Parliamentary Friendship Leagues Israel-Estonia, Israel-Austria and Israel-Switzerland, she represented the Knesset in delegations to the European Union, British Parliament, France and Taiwan. She is also a board member in the World Jewish Congress.

Michaeli did not contest the 2013 elections and subsequently lost her seat.

Controversy

Attacks against Arab parliamentarians

Michaeli was reprimanded by the Knesset for attempting to physically remove Israeli-Arab MK Hanin Zuabi from the floor as Zuabi tried to speak about the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid.

In January 2012, Michaeli again courted controversy after throwing a cup of water at Israeli-Arab MK Raleb Majadele during an argument about an Arab high school principal who had taken students to the annual Human Rights Day march in Tel Aviv. On January 10, the Ethics Committee suspended Michaeli from the participation in the Knesset plenum or committees for four weeks, but still allowed her to take part in house votes during this period.

Statements on gay and lesbian people

Speaking at a Knesset committee meeting in June 2012, Michaeli stated that "most gay people suffered sexual trauma at a young age and committed suicide at 40." The statement outraged many gay groups. A week after this comment, Michaeli caused further controversy when she claimed that abortions turn women into lesbians. These statements were made in connection with her work to ask television broadcasts to be regulated for violent and sexual content.

External links

• Anastassia Michaeli on the Knesset website
• Anastassia Michaeli at the Internet Movie Database