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MK Tartman lies about Master's degree
Designated tourism minister caught in lie about academic past by Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper just days after appointment. Rivals gloat, associates come to her defense
Amnon Meranda
Designated Tourism Minister Esterina Tartman was met with another hurdle after Yedioth Ahhronot newspaper exposed that her supposed Master's degree in economy was non-existent on Tuesday.
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The report said that the Israel Our Home Knesset member did participate in several courses in economics, however these courses were held in an institute that does not grant official academic degrees.
Tartman's biography in the Israel Our Home official website originally stated that she held a "Master's degree in economics and marketing from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem."
After Tartman was asked to comment on the discovery, the text was changed to "Business administration Master's degree studies."
Israel Our Home sources explained that this was a typing error, and that "She herself never claimed that (she had a Master's degree)."
This statement however, also turned out to be inaccurate, as in an interview to the Knesset channel two days ago, when asked about her skills and experience, the designated minister said, "I come from a clear economic background, a Bachelor's degree in accounting and finance and a Master's degree in business administration."
An official source from the Knesset said on Monday, "The matter should be examined before the minister is officially appointed to the role… if a person presents their self as holding an academic degree that does not exist, this is a serious problem at least publicly if not more so."
In the meantime, details about Tartman's education in the Knesset's official website
still reads "Master's degree: Business Administration, Management and Marketing, Jerusalem."
Knesset's official website. Circled text reads: "Master's degree: Business Administration, Management and Marketing, Jerusalem."
Tartman was appointed tourism minister on Sunday, and shortly afterwards it was revealed that according to a medical opinion that she presented to a court, an accident she once had left her with a certain degree of disability, allowing her to work for only four hours a day.
Following this new discovery, Tartman's political rivals jumped at the chance to criticize her and her party.
"It is typical that the "(Avigdor) Lieberman and the 11 dwarves" party would choose the most dishonest, unreliable, arrogant and racist person available as minister," said MK Ran Cohen (Meretz-Yahad), "In the end, Tartman and Lieberman's political fate will come to resemble her Master's degree – a sham with nothing behind it."
Cohen's colleague MK Avshalom Vilan added, "It's unfortunate that the designated minister changes the truth according to her circumstances."
Tartman has also received criticism from within her party, as MK Israel Hasson, who lost the position to Tartman told Ynet, "If the facts are correct, it is very sad. I am not gloating, but publicly, this looks very bad."
One of Tartman's associates came to her defense saying, "There is a witch hunt being carried out against her, because the leftists cannot handle her views…just as the previous report was full of false information, so are the other reports."
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