20-year-old protest candidate known for TikTok videos files her party’s Knesset slate

By Carrie Keller-Lynn 15 September 2022, 5:13 pm

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Carrie Keller-Lynn is a former political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel

Hadar Muchtar speaks at the Knesset upon registering her Fiery Youth party's list of candidates with the Central Elections Committee, on September 15, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Twenty-year-old Israeli internet personality Hadar Muchtar submits her Fiery Youth protest party’s thin slate of candidates to the Central Election Committee, staffed by five political newcomers behind Muchtar.

Muchtar has risen to popular culture prominence in the past month, creating viral videos on TikTok that attack Israel’s rising cost of living and appeal to a young, right-wing audience.

Although she filed her list mere hours before the deadline, Muchtar visited the Knesset yesterday and caused a stir with fiery outbursts to television crews positioned to cover the registration process.

Muchtar’s party polled at 1.5 percent in its first survey, but is not expected to win the minimum 3.25% of the vote necessary to earn a spot in the Knesset. She has pointed out that her numbers were almost on par with politically beleaguered Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.

“We don’t have a shekel in our pocket and we managed to achieve this,” Muchtar told Yedioth Ahronoth at the beginning of September.

The minimum age to be seated as a lawmaker is 21. If Muchtar’s party were to succeed in its longshot bid to cross the threshold, she herself cannot become a MK in November.