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Anastasia Michaeli

(1975-)

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia to a Christian family, Anastasia Michaeli married Yossi Samuelson, a Lativan-born Jew, at the age of 22. They married in Russia but after the immigrated to Israel in 1997, she converted to Judaism and remarried with Orthodox sanction in 2000. She earned her degree in business administration at Bar Ilan University, has a masters's degree in electrical engineering, and worked as a journalist and presenter for Israel Plus Russian-language TV station.

In 2006, Michaeli was placed 44th on the Kadima Party list for the elections for the 17th Knesset. Kadima only won 29 seats, so she did not serve.

In 2009, Michaeli ran as the 9th party member in Yisrael Beiteinu Party, which won 15 seats for the 18th Knesset. She made Israeli history by becoming the first incumbent MK to give birth. The Knesset Ethics Committee voted to grant her maternity leave for the birth of her eighth child on July 5, 2009. She is a member of the Education, Culture, and Sports Committee, the State Control Committee, the Committee on the Status of Women, the Committee for the Second Authority for Television Radio, the Subcommittee on the Trafficking in Women, and the Joint Economic and Education Committee Regard the Israel Broadcasting Authority. She is also a member of the Lobby for the IDF Disabled, Bereaved Families, Widows, and Orphans.

For Michaeli, Judaism is both a religion and a nationality and her strongly Zionist philosophy is reflected, for her, in her family. For her, the number of children she has is not just an extension of her family, it is a Zionistic vision of further populating the Jewish nation by adding to its demographics. Her children attend religious public schools and she and her husband keep a Kosher and tightly run household.


Sources: The Forward, Israel National News, Knesset, Wikipedia