After the primary campaign collapsed, Hadar Muchtar went abroad

After months of an intensive campaign in an attempt to be elected to the Likud list for the Knesset, Hadar Muchtar was forced to watch the primaries take place without her and left for Georgia. According to her spokesperson, the decision to fly was made following the blow she suffered after not receiving the seniority reduction that would have allowed her to run.

"Her world collapsed, she went to Georgia because she could not deal with the fact that the primaries were taking place without her," he stated. However, according to him, she does not intend to disappear from the political arena: "The day after the primaries, she will return with full force."

Muchtar has invested many efforts in recent months in an attempt to integrate into the Likud list for the Knesset. Since she had not accumulated the required seniority in the movement, she needed a special seniority reduction to submit her candidacy. For a long time, it seemed that the possibility of her running was still on the table. In May, it was even reported that Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to approve the seniority reduction for her, and Muchtar continued to conduct a campaign on social media and in the field. However, days before the primaries, the decision was made.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally approved a seniority reduction for four candidates – Almog Cohen, Zeev Elkin, Shay Kalach, and Dror Kapach – while Muchtar remained off the list. The meaning was clear: after months of preparations and a campaign, she would not be able to run in the upcoming primaries.

Even before the decision, Muchtar said in an interview that she was very afraid of the possibility of receiving a negative answer. She referred to the crisis she experienced after the 2022 elections and said that it took her about two years to recover from it. After it became clear that she would not be able to run, she published a message to her supporters and clarified that as far as she was concerned, the political story was not over yet: "The journey is not over yet. This is not the time for summaries."

Now, while Likud members are preparing to choose the list for the Knesset, Muchtar is in Georgia. According to her spokesperson, this is only a short break – and already the day after the primaries, she intends to return to activity "with full force."