Ayelet Shaked
Ayelet ShakedFlash 90

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has backed out of an appearance at a Likud Central Committee New Year's toast in Tel Aviv on Sunday night. 

According to Channel 10, Shaked cancelled after angry Jewish Home activists protested her planned participation in the event. 

Shaked was once an active member of the Likud party, serving for a time as head of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office. 

She left Likud to join Jewish Home in June 2012, along with fellow former Likudnik and current party chairman Naftali Bennett. Shaked has served as an MK for the Jewish Home faction since Israel's 2013 elections. 

According to the Justice Minister's office, Shaked ran into the director of the Likud branch in Tel Aviv, Haya Shamir, at the supermarket, where Shamir invited Shaked to the event on a friendly basis. 

Jewish Home activists were not so accepting, blasting the minister for agreeing to attend and charging that if Shaked wanted to go back to Likud, she should do so immediately. 

Amidst the backlash, Shaked was quick to claim that she meant no harm, and once she realized her attending such an event would have political significance, she backed out. 

Likud MKs, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin and Deputy Knesset Speaker Nurit Koren, are among the speakers scheduled to attend Likud's New Year's toast in Tel Aviv this evening.