About 250 people showed up for a gathering of Likud Knesset members and activists Wednesday that was meant to increase pressure on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to succumb to U.S. demands to freeze Jewish construction in Judea.
Organizers had hoped that ministers Michael Eitan, Gilad Erdan, Yuli Edelstein and Moshe Kahlon would take part in the get-together, which was meant as a show of strength. However, the ministers decided not to show up, in what observers estimate was a joint decision. Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to each of them and asked them not to attend the meeting because, he said, it was meant to damage him personally.
Coalition Chairman MK Zeev Elkin did not participate in the event and MK Carmel Shama announced earlier in the day that he would not be attending.
"Once the gathering turned into a pole on which to hoist the flag of rebellion against the prime mini
Some of those present estimated that Netanyahu's men engineered the elevator malfunction. 
ster, and not a legitimate and open discussion on the diplomatic issues, participation in it became a statement that I cannot live with,” Shama said.
'Stop the erosion'
The Knesset Members who did show up were Danny Danon, Tzipi Hotovely and Yariv Levin.
“We are here to stop the erosion that could lead us to dangerous places,” Danon said. “This is not a toast – it is a gathering for awakening.” Danon turned rhetorically to Netanyahu, who was not present, and asked him to “take the book that you wrote, 'A Place Under the Sun,' to [U.S. President Barack] Obama and continue in the path of the Likud.”
Hotovely said that “the Land of Israel is not an election fad” and added that “time after time the people vote for the Right and receive something else – we are here to make sure that the people get what they voted for.”
The gathering, she said, was not a rebellion but an expression of loyalty to the movement's values.
Mystery malfunction
The gathering's opening was marred by an elevator malfunction which delayed many of the participants' arrival. The elevators were crucial, seeing as the event was held on the 14th floor of the Likud's Tel Aviv bastion, “Metzudat Zeev.”
Some of those present estimated that Netanyahu's men engineered the elevator malfunction.