JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's weekly cabinet meeting was temporarily interrupted on Tuesday by a blazing row between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz.The argument between the two politicians, who have long been at loggerheads, broke out when Peretz wanted to speak about the issue of unpaid municipal workers that saw trade unionists threaten industrial action last week.
"This isn't an autocracy," Peretz was quoted by local media as yelling at the prime minister, before Olmert openly mocked the leader of the centre-left Labour party and former trade union chief.
The heated exchange provoked [a] five-minute suspension of proceedings...
According to KeepKidsHealthy.com,
Time out is a very effective discipline technique and will work with children as young as 18-24 months old. By using this method of discipline you are giving your child time out from positive reinforcement ... after he misbehaves. Prepare a time out chair ... or any place where he is isolated from interaction with others. Use a kitchen timer to count down your child's punishment time, which is usually one minute per year of age.
By my calculations, Olmert should have gotten one hour and two minutes' timeout, and Peretz, 55 minutes. If you believe KeepKidsHealthy (and I see no reason to doubt their expertise in these matters), the five-minute suspension of the cabinet meeting was hardly sufficient.
On the other hand, the American Academy of Pediatrics says that "even 15-seconds will work." We can always hope.