(Editor's Note: This article was published first in the November 2022 edition of The Stand print edition.)
How does a devout Muslim who embraced radical ideology as a teen end up working for an international Christian organization that is wholly devoted to supporting Israel and its people?
It sounds impossible, but Kasim Hafeez is living proof of the adage that “an enemy is just someone whose story has yet to be heard.”
Exposing the lies
Hafeez’s story of transformation began when he purchased The Case for Israel, a 2003 bestseller by Alan Dershowitz. He fully intended to read the vile nonsense and dispute it irrefutably.
After all, he considered Jews to be evil, cancerous enemies of Islam, deserving total eradication. But the words Dershowitz wrote of Israel ran in diametrical opposition to Hafeez’s life narrative.
“The ‘truths’ I had believed for years,” Hafeez explained to The Stand, “were suddenly challenged by verifiable facts presented in this book.”
Those ‘truths’ were developed and nurtured in the relatively insulated Pakistani Muslim neighborhood of Nottingham, England, where Hafeez was born and raised by devout Sunni Muslims. This juxtaposition of cultures fueled his search for acceptance and identity since he never felt wholly British or Pakistani.
He was completely Muslim; of that, he was certain. So naturally, when Islamic extremist groups flooded his community with subtle but radical indoctrination campaigns, teenage Hafeez was their perfect target.
Thoroughly brainwashed by his college years in the early 2000s, Hafeez confidently shared antisemitic and anti-American propaganda on campus. But when his nonviolent efforts proved fruitless, Hafeez pledged to join a radical terrorist group. If Islam was to flourish, violent annihilation of American and Jewish oppressors was his only viable option.
“In my neighborhood, these extremist groups continuously fed us the false narrative of victimhood,” said Hafeez. “It’s us versus them. And this dehumanizing, desensitizing message of victimhood was designed to fuel unfounded hopelessness and justifiable anger that demanded retribution from our imagined enemies.”
Speaking the truth
Light dawned on Hafeez after reading Dershowitz’s book, but that was just the beginning. He decided to travel to Israel and investigate his enemies up close and personal. Again, he arrogantly expected to quiet the nagging doubts about Islam and its adversaries. But what he saw and experienced in the land of Israel shook him to the core.
He later wrote of his life-changing trip: “The lies that had defined my identity fell apart – lies about an apartheid state, lies about a white colonial state, lies about Jewish hatred for Muslims. On the contrary, I saw a diverse and pluralistic country. And from the many people I spoke with – Jewish, Arab, Christian, Muslim, and more – I heard a desire for peace rather than war.”
Returning to England, Hafeez felt compelled to share what he had seen and heard in Israel. He began to tell the story of his misperceived “enemy,” a tale of welcoming, hospitable people whom he had once been willing to kill without remorse.
With his life’s narrative exposed as false, he continued resolutely to pursue truth. For a former Muslim extremist, that pursuit was costly, even dangerous. Family and friends did not understand or accept his change in perspective, while his radical allies sought to kill him and his message.
Hafeez moved to Canada and continued to write and speak publicly on what he had learned about Israel as well as the dangers of indoctrination, radicalization, and the propagation of victimhood.
Today, Hafeez compares his indoctrination to the victim mentality purposely propagated on American college campuses. He cautioned that these young American “victims” must first recognize the delusional lies of their self-imposed victimhood to pull themselves out of the darkness.
Finding a friend
At a speaking engagement sponsored by Christians United for Israel (CUFI), Hafeez shared the podium with Irving Roth, an elderly Holocaust survivor. It was the beginning of a remarkable relationship between two men who were polar opposites in many respects – age, culture, religion, and more.
Based in San Antonio, Texas, CUFI is a prominent Christian organization with over 10 million members. Their main objective is to educate and empower American citizens to unite in defense of Israel and the Jewish people.
Now a born-again Christian, Hafeez eventually joined the staff of CUFI and is currently the organization’s deputy communications director. Therefore, it is not surprising that CUFI became the proving ground of Hafeez and Roth’s friendship as they spoke side by side at countless other Holocaust awareness events over the years.
Out of their CUFI connection, an amazing project was birthed from Roth’s constant charge to young audiences: “The Holocaust began with words, issued by individuals, repeated by others until they became a philosophy, an ideology. When you hear those words, you must do something about it, for we must not allow it to happen. Never again!”
Telling the story
Released to home entertainment in June 2022, Never Again? is a powerful feature-length documentary on the history of antisemitism and its detrimental impact on the entire world. But what sets it apart as more than an educational Holocaust film is the real-life, redemptive story of foes who became friends.
The documentary features firsthand accounts from Roth and Hafeez, with each man effortlessly inviting the audience into their personal space with a genuine and obvious passion for their stories.
Hafeez details his journey from devout Muslim to radical extremist to staunch defender of Israel. In contrast, Roth reminisces about the innocence of childhood, followed by the horrors of deportation via a cattle car, the indescribably inhumane conditions of Auschwitz, and the murder of his beloved older brother Bondi and other family members.
The men’s monologues switch back and forth, with their two separate stories ultimately becoming one when Hafeez comes to visit Roth in his home.
“I can’t predict the future,” Hafeez tells Roth, “but I can promise you that the Jewish people are not alone, you’re not alone, and your grandchildren are not alone.
“We will fight shoulder to shoulder with you against antisemitism. When I say, ‘Never again,’ I mean never again.”
Roth responds with gratitude, “There are issues we need to fight, but that we are not alone – this is absorbed, understood, and felt. My heart is full.”
Then comes the documentary’s climax as the tale of Muslim and Jew comes down to a simple number – A-10491 – the Auschwitz prisoner number forever tattooed on Roth’s forearm.
“I’ve heard the phrase ‘You don’t have skin in the game,’” explains Hafeez as he rolls up his shirt sleeve and shows Roth his own tattoo of A-10491. “That’s why I got the tattoo. I’m not walking away; I’m in this with you, Irving, to the end.”
And Hafeez has been true to his word.
Though Roth died at the age of 91 on February 16, 2021, Hafeez continues to bear Roth’s number and tell his story as a surrogate survivor. It is a story of truth so strong and respect so deep, that once heard, foes become forever friends.
