Palestinian Hamas terrorists murdered former professional soccer player Lior Asulin during their attack on a rave in southern Israel. “It is with great sadness that we learned, after many hours in which he was missing, that our former player Lior Asulin was murdered by terrorists at the party in Re’im,” said his former club Hapoel Tel Aviv. At least 260 bodies were recovered from the festival site by Sunday, including Asulin, who celebrated his 43rd birthday at the party near Kibbutz Re’im.
In 2004, Asulin won the Israeli Cup with Ichud Bnei Sakhnin, scoring two goals in the 4-1 win in the final against Hapoel Haifa. The cup victory is still the greatest success in the club’s history and the first title win by an Arab team in the Israeli cup competition.
Asulin began his professional career with Maccabi Herzliya in 1997 and played for numerous Israeli clubs, as well as Apollon Limassol in 2008. He scored 27 goals in 57 games for Beitar Jerusalem and was the second most successful goalscorer in the Israeli Premier League in the 2004/05 and 2006/07 seasons. He ended his professional career in 2017.
According to his own statement, it was difficult for him to change his life and the lifestyle of a professional footballer. In 2021, Asulin was sentenced to 19 months in prison by an Israeli court after pleading guilty to drug trafficking. As the Ynet portal reports, Asulin was fired after eight months for good behavior. During his probationary period he played for the lower-class club Hapoel Lod.
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Asulin told Ynet in an interview last year that he became mentally, physically and emotionally stronger in prison. “You have a lot of time to organize your thoughts, reflect and practice. What kept me sane was knowing that when I got out of there, I would do everything I could to never come back. Get up, work, rehabilitate my life and my relationships with my family and my children.” Every person deserves “a second chance” and he intends to grab it with both hands.
