Anastassia Michaeli

Anastassia Michaeli
Date of birth	(1975-07-12) 12 July 1975 (age 36)
Place of birth	Leningrad, Soviet Union
Year of aliyah	1997
Knessets	18
Party	Yisrael Beiteinu

Anastassia Michaeli (Russian: Анастасия Михаэли (Михалевская), Hebrew: אנסטסיה מיכאלי ‎, born 12 July 1975) is a Member of 18 Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu political party and has had successful careers in television journalism, business and modeling.

Biography

Early life and education

Michaeli was born in Leningrad in the Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg in Russia) in ethnic Russian family. She holds a second 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 at a technology exhibition in St. Petersburg. Samuelson, originally from Riga, Latvia, immigrated to Israel in 1971, at the age of 11. They married and made Israel their home in 1997.^[1] Michaeli converted to Judaism

She graduated Business studies at Bar-Ilan University. Her media career began in 2002, when 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.

Personal life

Anastassia lives in Rishon LeZion with her husband Joseph Samuelson and their eight children.^[2][3]

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 Michaeli 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.^[4]

Knesset 18

Michaeli's priorities as a member of Knesset are social and family issues, as well as homeland national security.

Controversy

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 of 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. Majadele promised to take Michaeli to the Ethics Committee for sanctioning.^[5] 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.^[6]

Committees and lobbies

• Chairperson, Lobby for the Promotion of Family Rights
• Member of Education, Culture, and Sports Committee
• Member of Committee on the Status of Women
• Member of Committee for the Second Authority for Television and Radio
• Member, State Control Committee
• Member, Subcommittee on Trafficking in Women
• Chairperson of Parliamentary Friendship Leagues: Israel-Estonia, Israel-Austria, Israel-Switzerland

References

External links

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