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Netanyahu Confidant Bolts Party in Blow to Reelection Hopes

Associated Press

   JERUSALEM - A longtime confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
   announced Wednesday that he was quitting the ruling Likud party and
   joining an upstart political rival, accusing the Israeli leader of
   plunging the country into an unnecessary election campaign in hopes of
   escaping corruption charges.

   With his resignation, Zeev Elkin became the highest-profile name to
   join a burgeoning rebellion in the Likud against Netanyahu. The
   insurrection has already begun to reshape Israel's political map and
   put the political survival of the long-ruling Netanyahu in question.

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