Berko issues complaint over harassment by ex-spokesman

MK Anat Berko (Likud) complained to the Knesset guard that her former spokesman was harassing her and her family, Channel 10 reported Thursday night.

Berko fired Daniel Tzirlin earlier this year, but soon after he reportedly began bullying his former employer.

The Likud lawmaker told Knesset security that at the wedding of Likud MK Oren Hazan, Tzirlin’s new employer, he made “blunt and humiliating comments” about her to her husband.

Berko said Tzirlin wrote to her daughter, “Good luck to you, dwarf with a manly face,” and to her son, “Your mom is paying and will continue to pay the price for the unpleasantness that you felt and all the buzz I created.”

“Since his dismissal, there is a noticeable deterioration in his unusual behavior and it seems that recently Daniel is crossing all the lines. He tends to have angry outbursts and displays aggressive behavior,” Berko said.

Berko, a former lieutenant-colonel in the IDF who holds a PhD in criminology and specializes in Palestinian terrorists, became known in this Knesset for her caustic comments on the Palestinian issue and toward her fellow MKs. According to Channel 10, she recently deleted from Twitter some of her more biting remarks to other lawmakers.

The Likud lawmaker said Tzirlin wrote the tweets.

Tzirlin told Channel 10 that Berko’s complaint was “sad and pathetic” and that she took advantage of his hard work to make her well known and is now using him again to get into the headlines.

“The only harassment is from the honorable MK toward me,” he added.

Knesset security told Tzirlin to stay away from Berko, but did not take any other steps.