Israeli Cabinet Nominee Withdraws Over False Résumé

JERUSALEM — A candidate for Israel's Cabinet from a stridently anti-Arab party withdrew her nomination yesterday after key parts of her résumé turned out to be false.

Esterina Tartman blamed Israeli journalists for bringing her down and adding her to the growing list of Israeli politicians mired in scandal. Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman said he stood by her but respected her decision to withdraw.

"I will not be broken by the media," she told a news conference, with Mr. Lieberman at her side.

The scandal erupted when two universities where Ms. Tartman claimed she earned advanced degrees said she was never enrolled, and a bank where she claimed to be a vice president said she held only a lower-level post.

The affair is an embarrassment to Mr. Lieberman as he seeks to become an even bigger political player, expanding his current post as minister in charge of dealing with strategic threats against Israel.

Ms. Tartman, 49, was already a contentious figure as a protégé of Mr. Lieberman, who has advocated stripping Israel's minority Arabs of their citizenship and transferring them to Palestinian Authority rule. She called the appointment a month ago of Israel's first Arab Muslim Cabinet minister a "calamity" and supported a defeated bill that would have revoked the citizenship of anyone who did not sign a loyalty oath to the state.

But it was Mr. Lieberman's decision to nominate the ultranationalist as tourism minister that led to explosive disclosures about her qualifications.

Mr. Lieberman, who has a reputation as a ruthless political strongman, cited Ms. Tartman's "background in economics" when nominating her this week. Ms. Tartman herself trumpeted her economics credentials in defending her suitability for the job.

"I have a clear economics background ... a bachelor's in accounting and financial management, a master's in business administration," she told parliament's Knesset Channel earlier this week.

But yesterday, the two Israeli universities where she said she studied — Hebrew University and Bar-Ilan University — said she was never enrolled. Her bachelor's degree apparently came from the Israeli branch of New York-based Touro College, an institution of lesser standing, at a time when such foreign branches were not under government supervision, Army Radio reported.

Ms. Tartman's fitness for the post has also come under question because of disability claims that have won her a reported $600,000 insurance payout.

She received the award after claiming that a traffic accident a decade ago left her able to work only four hours a day, Israeli news outlets reported. That raised questions about her ability to handle a demanding ministerial post. She told a reporter recently that she still suffers from the effects of the accident, including problems with concentration.

The affair landed Ms. Tartman on the front pages of Israeli newspapers and made her the main topic of conversation on radio talk shows.

Other high-level politicians have been there.

Israel's attorney general has announced plans to indict President Katsav on charges of raping and sexually assaulting former female employees.