Likud Knesset candidate Sagiv Asulin discusses with IsraelNationalNews some of his plans – including his ties with Christian Zionists and his commitment to the Land of Israel.
Asulin was elected to the 33rd spot on the Likud list of Knesset candidates for the upcoming elections – the spot reserved for Likud “youth” (under age 35). He received strong support from Moshe Feiglin and the Jewish Leadership faction of the Likud, but ironically, due to the reshuffling of the list at the behest of Netanyahu ally and Likud Knesset candidate Ophir Akunis, Asulin is three places ahead of Feiglin – who was bumped down from the 20th to the 36th position.
Asked how he views his chances to enter the Knesset, Asulin says, “I hope, with G-d’s help, that the Likud will receive at least 36 seats” – so that not only he will enter the Knesset, but Feiglin will as well. Asked how his ties with Jewish Leadership began, Asulin said, “They began around five years ago, when I was head of the National Student Union. I first met Michael Puah [Jewish Leadership’s Director-General], and only later did I meet Feiglin. I had always been involved in the right-wing of the Likud, and the ties between us became tighter during the party referendum [regarding the Disengagement/expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Shomron, the outcome of which Ariel Sharon all but ignored – ed.], and then both Puah and I moved to N’vei Dekalim...”
Asulin feels that despite Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu’s statements in favor of a national unity government with Labor, “of the three major candidates, he presents the best ideological positions for the country. I have heard him speaking against giving away the Golan, against returning to the 1967 borders, and against any division of Jerusalem.”
Asked if he thinks he may end up having to assume the same role played by the “rebels” – the Likud MKs who opposed Sharon’s expulsion plan – vis-à-vis Netanyahu, Asulin took exception: “First of all, don’t call them rebels; they were the real Likud loyalists, and it turns out that they are now the true Likud. I am proud to count myself among their number, even though I wasn’t a Knesset Member at the time…”
“But secondly,” Asulin continues, “I don’t think we will face a similar situation in which we will have to fight our party leader. The Likud of today is not the Likud of Ariel Sharon, and is much more nationalistic. I believe the entire right-wing camp in Israel must unite behind Netanyahu so that he will be free to form the best coalition – which, from my point of view, would include Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, the Jewish Home and Shas. But even if Labor joins, Labor will still have to accept the Likud’s platform. I can tell you that we are entering the Knesset in order to maintain the Land of Israel – and that this is true of many of the Likud members."
Asulin and Christians
Asulin’s name has been mentioned as a friend of a Christian Messianic group entitled Worldwide Biblical Zionists (WBZ). WBZ works to bring Ephraimites [Christians who believe they are descended from the Lost Tribe of Ephraim] to the land of Israel to begin what WBZ says is “hopefully the beginning of the ‘footsteps’ of bringing together Ephraim and Judah by the Messiah of Israel.”
Challenged on this point, Asulin told IsraelNationalNews, “I believe that I do a great service for the State of Israel by working with our friends in the United States. At the same time, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am against having any contact with any group that has the slightest bearing on missionary activity or something that would harm the Jewish People or Jewish religion. This is a clear red line. If I learn that a group with which I am in contact is clearly involved in something harmful to Judaism or the Jewish People, I will cut off these ties.”