Defense Minister Barak stung by "idiot" insult

Commentators are calling it a stinging opening shot in a campaign to oust Defense Minister Ehud Barak as leader of the ailing Labor Party. Sniping at Barak, political rival Ofer Eini, of his own party, called him "an idiot" on television late on Wednesday.

"You are a minister in the government, why are you bringing in a Filipina," Eini asked on Israel's Channel Two television. "You have to be an idiot to do that," he said, using an Arabic term, "ahbal." Barak responded by saying the comment was inappropriate for public discourse. (Reuters)