From the Ma'ariv NRG website. This article was written in the wake of the media uproar in Israel after Right wing candidate for Minister of Tourism, Estrina Tartman, apparently lied about the fact that she holds a Masters degree. 

Why did you do it, Estrina? The elites are doing such a good job of eliminating themselves when they have nobody to sink their teeth into. The Prime Minister, Defense Minister, Finance Minister, Police Chief, Chief of Staff, Justice Minister – all of them no longer have a common enemy and have turned to making themselves extinct. And suddenly you enter the arena – with fluent Hebrew and a perfectly Israeli appearance – and express opinions that make all the elites abandon their colleagues' throats and attack you, instead. 

Why did you have to open your mouth? What would have been so bad if you had maintained the role preserved for all the Rightists in the Knesset – a mere statistic? What exactly did you think when you attacked the appointment of the first Arab Minister in the Knesset? What did you think when you expressed Zionist opinions, Heaven help us? You didn't understand that the investigative reporters of Yediot and Galei Tzahal would immediately go out for the hunt? 

Who did you think you were? State Attorney Edna Arbel? So what if she added a fictitious Masters degree to her resume? Should that disqualify her from deciding the fate of Israel's citizens? Or maybe you thought that you were Shimon Peres? Did you ever see an investigative reporter check the resume flaunted by the man who is "larger than life?"  

What did you think, Estrina? That you share equal footing with Gilad Sharon? Supreme Court Justice Cheshin already explained that nobody gets $600,000 to surf the internet, but "if we would have convicted Gilad, his father, Ariel Sharon, would have been forced to resign, and then there would have been no Disengagement…"

But you, Estrina, are a settler. For settlers, even a box of cookies from friends is considered bribery. 

It seems that Justice Cheshin, himself, also has a very uncomfortable skeleton in his closet. Does anybody make an issue of it? Does the media denounce "his honor" as they have denounced the candidate for Minister of Tourism? 

You have to understand something, Estrina. You may have the proper lineage, you do not speak with a Russian accent and you do not really look religious. But you are a Rightist and certainly not a member of the elite club that is above the law. So be careful not to express your rightist opinions, and just get used to being a statistic, like most of the right wing Knesset members who remain silent so that they can survive in the Knesset. 

And about the Masters degree. If you really falsely claimed that you have a Masters, I have no idea why you did it. The degrees given by Israel's educational system do not make a great impression on me. When I am asked how many years of study I have behind me, my answer is "One." The only year that I can say with certainty that I learned something in the formal education system is first grade. That is when I learned how to read. Since then I have not stopped. Sometime after my army service, I also learned how to write. And to the dismay of many, I have not stopped that offensive habit, either. 

Academic degrees are nice and possibly important, but they do not tell us much about a person. For me, it is much more important to know what our elected representatives think about the issues. It is time for politicians to begin to write. Mr. Prime Minister, please share your thoughts with us. Write something that explains why it is worthwhile for our children to continue to live in this country. Mr. Defense Minister, leave the settlements alone, put down your binoculars and publish your security platform. 

Estrina, the degree that you do or do not hold interests me as much as last year's snowballs. Write a serious article on your approach to tourism in Israel. What good are degrees, if a person cannot lucidly write his thoughts?