Former controversial Knesset Member returns to politics
Anastassia Michaeli, the 43-year-old mother of eight, who had her eighth child as an MK, made more news for her negative headlines.
By GIL HOFFMANmichaeli(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Former Yisrael Beytenu MK Anastassia Michaeli, who made waves with controversial statements and actions in the Knesset, announced that she is returning to politics and running for the Rishon Lezion City Council.During her five-year tenure in the Knesset from 2013 to 2018, she initiated a government-sponsored reform that lowered the price of school textbooks and after-school activities for children, and co-sponsored 72 bills that passed. She initiated bills preventing violence against caregivers and setting a minimum prison sentence for hit-and-run drivers.But the 43-year-old mother of eight, who had her eighth child as an MK, made even more news for her negative headlines.In January 2011, she charged the podium when then-Balad MK Haneen Zoabi was defending her participation in the Gaza Strip flotilla.In December 2011, she proposed a bill that would limit the loudness of the Muslim muezzins’ call to prayer. And in January 2012, she threw a cup of water in the face of then-Labor MK Ghaleb Majadle after he told her to shut up.In June 2012, she told the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality that most gay people were sexually abused as children and that some eventually commit suicide when they turn 40 years old. She added fuel to the fire when she told Ma’ariv that “girls get pregnant, have abortions that harm their ability to have children, and end up lesbians.”The St. Petersburg native will be placed second on the local Yisrael Beytenu list in Rishon Lezion, called Rishon Beytenu. The list is headed by Evgeny Barachman.Michaeli told The Jerusalem Post that she would continue her work to advance children as a member of the city council. She said she hoped to bring her experience to help the people of her city.“I only left the Knesset to be with my children, but I have remained in Yisrael Beytenu and stayed loyal to Avigdor Liberman,” she said.“I turned down opportunities to return, but I saw Barachman’s commitment to education and security. And now my oldest is 21 and my youngest is nine, so I am ready to volunteer my time.”
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