{{short description|Israeli criminologist and politician|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Dr. Anat Berko.jpg | caption = Berko in 2015 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|1|14|df=y}} | birth_place = Jerusalem, Israel | death_date = | death_place = | office1 = Faction represented in the Knesset | suboffice1 = Likud | subterm1 = 2015–2019 }}
'''Anat Berko''' ({{langx|he|ענת ברקו}}; born 14 January 1960) is an Israeli criminologist and politician. An expert in the fields of counter-terrorism, she served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 2015 and 2019.
==Biography== Berko was born in Jerusalem to Jewish parents who had immigrated to Israel from Iraq, and was the second of six children.<ref name=JP/> After completing her national service, she remained in the Israel Defense Forces, serving for a total of 25 years and reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.<ref name=JP/> She studied psychology, sociology and criminology at Bar-Ilan University and holds a PhD in criminology, her doctorate thesis was about suicide bombers with emphasis on female and child Palestinian suicide bombers. She became a lecturer at the Lauder School of Government of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, and served as a visiting professor at George Washington University.<ref>[https://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=918 Knesset website]</ref> Nowadays she is a research fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) and lectures at Israel's National Defense College.<ref name="ToI">[http://www.timesofisrael.com/after-seeing-hamas-up-close-a-netanyahu-clone-aims-for-the-knesset/ After sitting with terrorists, a Netanyahu stalwart seeks a Knesset seat] The Times of Israel, 11 March 2015</ref> Her research area includes suicide bombings, and she interviewed Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin.<ref name=JP>[https://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Likud-candidate-Palestinian-state-would-be-like-Syria-390499 Likud candidate Anat Berko: Palestinian state would be like Syria] The Jerusalem Post, 9 February 2015</ref>
==Political career== Prior to the 2015 Knesset elections she was placed 23rd on the Likud list,<ref>[http://www.bechirot20.gov.il/election/Candidates/Pages/OneListCandidates.aspx?LPF=Search&WebId=6adadc15-e476-480b-9746-04490aedeb0f&ListID=ba72a662-765c-45af-9d48-fb68080956af&ItemID=56&FieldID=ListNickname_GxS_Text Likud list] Central Elections Committee</ref> a slot reserved for a candidate chosen by Netanyahu.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150101172515/http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/1.634851 Israel election updates / Likud primary results are in: Erdan, Edelstein get top spots] Haaretz, 1 January 2015</ref> She was elected to the Knesset as Likud won 30 seats.<ref>[http://bechirot20.gov.il/election/english/kneset20/Pages/results20_eng.aspx Final Unofficial* results of the Elections for the Twentieth Knesset] Central Elections Committee</ref> In February 2016, she claimed that the term 'Palestine' is borrowed as Arabic does not have a 'p' sound.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Likud MK: Palestinians can't even pronounce the letter 'P'|url=https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/there-is-no-palestinian-people-because-arabs-cant-say-p-444470|access-date=2020-07-11|website=The Jerusalem Post|date=10 February 2016 }}</ref> In August 2018 she proposed a bill to ban displays of the Palestinian flag, with violators facing up to one year in prison.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Bill-would-ban-Palestinian-flag-at-events-565565|title=Likud-sponsored bill would ban Palestinian flag at events|work=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=2018-08-24}}</ref>
Berko was moved down to forty-sixth place on the Likud list for the April 2019 elections. Likud won 35 seats, resulting in Berko losing her place in the Knesset.
Berko is married to Reuven, an expert on Arab affairs, and has three children.<ref name="ToI"/>
==Books== * ''The Path to Paradise: The Inner World of Suicide Bombers and their Dispatchers'', 2009, Praeger Publishers, 978-1-5979-7364-9 * ''The Smarter Bomb, Women and Children as Suicide Bombers'' 2011, Rowman & Littlefield, 978-1-4422-1952-6
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{MKlink|id=918}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Berko, Anat}} Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:Bar-Ilan University alumni Category:George Washington University faculty Category:Academic staff of Reichman University Category:Israeli colonels Category:Israeli criminologists Category:Israeli non-fiction writers Category:Israeli people of Iraqi-Jewish descent Category:Women members of the Knesset Category:Jewish Israeli politicians Category:Likud politicians Category:Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) Category:People from Jerusalem Category:People from Ramat Gan Category:Israeli female military personnel Category:21st-century Israeli women politicians Category:Israeli women criminologists Category:Scholars of terrorism