Reports that Likud minister Zeev Elkin is defecting this evening to Gideon Sa’ar’s new party. Significant if true. Elkin was seen as both loyal and trusted by Netanyahu. So trusted, that he was his personal Russian translator in meetings with Vladimir Putin.

Elkin isn’t exactly a vote-winner (2 years ago he failed to win the election for Jerusalem mayor) but he’s a shrewd politician who not that long ago was pretty close to Netanyahu. If he’s defecting, it’s because he thinks Sa’ar has got a good chance of unseating Netanyahu.

It’s official. Elkin has resigned from Likud.

Two other important implications of Elkin’s defection to Sa’ar: 1 It will raise the level of paranoia within Likud. Other names of potential senior defectors being mentioned 2 Elkin was in charge of Likud’s “Russian” voters campaign and has deep knowledge of how the machine works