"I have just discovered that Esterina Tartman didn't work at a bank but rather at a kiosk," joked Israel Our Home chairman Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday morning.
Lieberman, who is also minister of strategic affairs and deputy prime minister, returned from an official visit to Moscow on Tuesday night and has so far refrained from commenting on the disclosure that Tartman, his choice for Israel Our Home's appointment to the Ministry of Tourism, was caught lying about her academic past.
"There is a loss of proportion here, an intoxication of the media. There is someone to prey on, someone to flagellate," said Lieberman. When asked if he intends to push forward with her appointment to the Tourism Ministry Lieberman replied: "Did you hear anything else from me?"
'Iranian threat still our key problem'
Since Tartman's apparent offense does not legally prevent her from serving in a ministerial position, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
decidedto leave the matter of Tartman's appointment up to Lieberman, who will have the final say on her future.
"I see a young woman with a future. If by tomorrow she is the minister for tourism or not – we will issue an announcement. The Israeli public will survive it," added Lieberman. "A person sometimes says unnecessary things in the heat of the moment, he slips. We are not rushing anywhere; I did not return home earlier than planned, we are not hiding. I spoke with her this morning as well as yesterday. There are unreasonable things in the press. Put things in proportion; the soldiers are still in captivity and the Iranian nuclear threat is still our key problem."
On Tuesday, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper exposed Tartman’s fabrication of a Masters degree. By lateafternoon that day, it appeared that she had fabricated her Bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance management and had never worked as deputy director of the Yahav Bank but only as a deputy department manager.
Bar Ilan University administrators said they could not find her name on a list of undergraduates going back to 1977, adding that they would prefer it if Tartman confirmed or denied the claims herself.