Faith

Meet the Once Anti-Semitic Muslim Who’s Now an Ardent Supporter of Israel

Muslim Zionist Kasim Hafeez Battles Anti Israel Media Bias

Once an ardently anti-Israel and anti-Semitic radical Muslim, now a proud Zionist. Not too many people own that bio, but that’s exactly how Kasim Hafeez describes himself.

Hafeez was born into a British Muslim household to Pakistani parents “and with the constant drip of indoctrination at home and in my circle of friends, became both anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic in my teen years,” he writes on his website. He says his father would frequently praise Adolf Hitler, describing the Nazi dictator’s only shortcoming as his failure to kill even more Jews during the Holocaust. In his community, he was bombarded with messages calling for the destruction of Israel which was perpetually presented as a terror state.

Muslim Zionist Kasim Hafeez Battles Anti Israel Media BiasHafeez says he bullied Jews in college and it was only after reading Alan Dershowitz’s “The Case for Israel” that he began to doubt his beliefs. In fact he had planned to read the book as an exercise in deconstructing the “vile Zionist propaganda,” but it ended up challenging him to the core.

He did what few would do in his shoes. He decided to challenge his own prejudices and in 2007 got on a plane to visit the state so despised by his community. He was shocked by what he saw and writes in an op-ed:

I did not encounter an apartheid racist state, but rather, quite the opposite. I was confronted by synagogues, mosques and churches, by Jews and Arabs living together, by minorities playing huge parts in all areas of Israeli life, from the military to the judiciary. It was shocking and eye-opening. This wasn’t the evil Zionist Israel that I had been told about.

He describes to the Times of Israel how his investigation included circling a bus stop twice “looking for indications of racial segregation, a sign saying ‘Arabs only.’ I couldn’t find any.”  His treatment in Israel “stood in stark contrast to the racial abuse he had suffered as a tourist in Saudi Arabia a few years earlier, where people would pass him in line saying, ‘You’re Pakistani. You can wait.’”

He writes:

After visiting Israel, I fell in love with the place and felt more at home there then I have anywhere in the world, on my return I became convinced that I had to take a stand. I had to do what’s right, I had to speak out for Israel, and bring the Israel I know to those around me, and not let them be misled by the lies that filled my mind with hate for so many years.

As a result, the British-Pakistani-Muslim founded The Israel Campaign, dedicated to defending Israel, the “democracy under siege” by battling misconceptions about Israel rife in the mainstream media. He is also on the advisory board of Stand With Us, a group that advocates for Israel on campus and elsewhere. He writes, “No other state is the target of such malicious propaganda, boycott and divestment campaigns to damage the viability of the tiny state.”

As part of his new mission, Hafeez is visiting Israel this week and recently completed a campus speaking tour titled “The Day I Stopped Hating Israel – Confessions of an Ex-Radical.” In an interview to Ynet (full video below), he says:

“A lot of this hatred and intolerance comes from ignorance. People don’t know the facts…Israel can do no right in the UK press. Israel always is wrong and everything has a very negative slant. It has become very black and white, where the Palestinians are right, and Israel is wrong… It is helping poison people towards Israel because they are not being told the truth of the conflict. I think there is a case of if you tell a lie enough times, people accept it as being true.”

Muslim Zionist Kasim Hafeez Battles Anti Israel Media Bias

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon posted this photo of meeting with Kasim Hafeez

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon met with Hafeez and called him “a great friend of Israel,” adding (in Hebrew): “I would be happy to meet more people like him.”

Meanwhile the former Nakba Day rally participant plods his uncharted path as a “proud Muslim Zionist,” promoting what he now knows to be the truth about Israel, and hopes to ultimately prevent others from growing up “brain-washed” as he believes he did. Even as he faces hostility from his own community, he says, “It is not easy, and that’s what makes it so necessary. This isn’t about religion and politics; it’s about the truth.”

Watch the interview Kasim Hafeez gave to Ynet in Israel:

Comments (52)

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  • jvrat
    Posted on June 6, 2012 at 12:15am

    so there are some who can think and yet some despise like Shuerhandsurehand-take that sore hand out of your ******** because it just pushes **** out of your mouth -surhan infected the tiny brain of his own and wants to claim yours. Wow

    Report Post »  
    • ashestoashes
      Posted on June 6, 2012 at 3:01am

      SURHAN is a true Muslim..He searches scripture..He was born into Islam..Man..have you no understanding? Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism..Judaism is a religion..The ones following it are Torah obedient God’s chosen people.They love the muslims. The Zionists have their roots in the Rothchild..NWO Globalists..power hungry greedy secularists/atheists etc..THe Torah obedient Jews say their are some Torah studying Jews who approve of them..but they don’t..THey blame them for the Holocaust and for the dissention in the ME..They are the ones seen picketing Zionism. To align oneself with Zionists is to align oneself with Globalists…the NWO bunch which seems to be the way nnelG is going and has gone..Remember the Jews picketing him when he went to Israel and we all thought it had to be liberals flown in from the US? Remember the man trying to sell a book with himself on the cover dressed up in a Nazi uniform? lol Hiding in plain sight? This is how the Torah obedient Jews feel about it..google it for yourselves..Jews vs Zionism.. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1506.htm
      THey also feel they are living in a Marxist Israel http://www.theblaze.com/stories/israeli-bill-would-outlaw-comparisons-to-nazis/
      Good grief..Obama was named as one of the top 50 most influential “Jews” Don’t you think that should have been “Zionists?” Remember people..Judaism is a religion..not politics..not NWO.which .is Communism under the direction of an evil government..

      Report Post »  
  • kissmygritsextremists
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 11:51pm

    I question any religion who leads by hate and separation. Any religion that says it’s okay to leave “deformed” babies in a field to die, is just sick. Good for him for seeing the light.

    Report Post » kissmygritsextremists  
  • Pilgrimsarbour
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 11:08pm

    “He has commited an enormity in the eyes of Islam and is no longer a muslim.”

    And the down side of this is?

    Report Post » Pilgrimsarbour  
    • SurhanSurhan
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 11:26pm

      @ PILGRIMSARBOUR- If the statement was true (but it’s not)…the fire of hell would be his dwelling place.

      Report Post »  
  • liltexasgal
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 9:05pm

    Wow! This is a terrific story. I especially like the The Israeli Meal Project on Kasim Hafeez website.

    Israel the Middle East’s only truly democratic state has been the target of malicious boycott and divestment campaigns for some time now, and we can all play a part in fighting this. Our proposal is the Israeli Meal Project, it’s actually really simple one day a week or more, completely up you, every meal you have during that day MUST have ingredients that are sourced or produced in Israel.

    It does sound like a bit of a challenge but you’d be surprised at what products you can get out that were sourced from Israel. We’d also love to hear what ideas you came up with for your Israeli meal day, what did you have for breakfast and what Israeli produce did you use, for lunch and dinner?

    So lets do something for Israel and get innovative in the kitchen.

    Report Post » liltexasgal  
  • brian8793
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 8:01pm

    This is a good little Shabbos Goy. Benjamin Franklin and GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON, however, were not:

    “I fully agree with General Washington, that we must protect this young nation from an insidious influence and impenetration. The menace, gentlemen, is the Jews. In whatever country Jews have settled in any great numbers, they have lowered its moral tone; depreciated its commercial integrity; have segregated themselves and have not been assimilated; have sneered at and tried to undermine the Christian religion upon which that nation is founded by objecting to its restrictions; have built up a state within a state; and when opposed have tried to strangle that country to death financially, as in the case of Spain and Portugal.

    -Benjamin Franklin

    Report Post » brian8793  
    • crypticguise
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 9:06pm

      This is pathetic. Don’t you realize how obvious this is? Neither Washington, nor Franklin were anti-semites. Do you know who Haym Soloman was? Obviously you don’t.

      Hey, Glenn…why do you allow MORONS on your website? lolol….

      Report Post »  
    • Bellini
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 9:08pm

      Antisemitic garbage. Anyone who knows the lives of these men would realize that it’s completely inconsistent with their record:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Franklin_Prophecy

      Report Post »  
    • Bellini
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 9:10pm

      Antisemitic garbage. Anyone who knows the lives of these men would realize that it’s completely inconsistent with their record:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Franklin_Prophecy

      In fact you’re spewing propaganda used by Osama bin Laden. Congrats.

      Report Post »  
  • Mr.Fitnah
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 7:02pm

    He has commited an enormity in the eyes of Islam and is no longer a muslim.
    http://islamqa.info/en/ref/21530/friend%20jews

    Report Post » Mr.Fitnah  
    • ashestoashes
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 7:35pm

      Rev 2:9 I know those who call themselves Jews and who are not..but are the synagogue of Satan..
      This is how most Orthodox Jews feel about Zionists..
      http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1506.htm

      Report Post »  
    • SurhanSurhan
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 9:40pm

      @ MR.FITNAH- Once again you have taken an extreme point of view of Islam. Once a person makes the declaration of faith (by declaring ‘I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’) he/she will always be Muslim. There are good Muslims, there are bad Muslims, but they are still Muslim. Only Allah can declare someone a non-Muslim.

      Report Post »  
    • Elena2010
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 10:13pm

      Surhan — not so. Apostates and heretics are hated more than Jews and Christians. This man is bordering on heresy in the eyes of the average salafist.

      Report Post » Elena2010  
    • SurhanSurhan
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 10:47pm

      @ ELENA2010- Muslims are not like Christians where the Muslim says this person or that person is not a Muslim. If a person has decided to abandon his/her religious beliefs (like Irshad Manji) and says the opposite of the teachings of Islam, that person is still a Muslim because that person has taken the shahada (declaration of faith). The believer is still a monotheist. However, that person is considered a bad Muslim.

      If that person is given the opportunity to repent before they take their last breath, Allah will forgive them of their sin and they will be accepted into heaven In-Sha-Allah (if Allah wills it).

      Report Post »  
  • sgtstubbs
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 6:37pm

    He must have picked and and read the “Good book” for before disrespecting another believes you need to know what they are.

    Report Post » sgtstubbs  
  • tess q
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 5:17pm

    the only way to rid yourself of hate is to admitt you were wrong to hate. good for you welcome to the light.

    Report Post » tess q  
  • Watchyer6
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 4:25pm

    All Muslims should be required to read this- and all the jokers at the UN, and all the “code pink” liberals here in the US. Of course, this guy will probably be rubbed out soon by his “brothers.”

    Report Post » Watchyer6  
  • BerkeleyTourGuide
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 4:11pm

    May God Bless him Double, him and his family, its easier to be silent.

    Report Post » BerkeleyTourGuide  
  • wheeler44
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 3:58pm

    I love this guy. May his new awareness win out over the intolerance preached by the radicals.

    Report Post »  
  • Lloyd Drako
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 3:53pm

    How do we know he’s not lying about his newfound love for Israel and the Jews? Isn’t lying what Muslims do?

    Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
    • jacst102
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 6:40pm

      To lie to promote islam, or to disguise something negative about islam (like everything about it) is completely acceptable and supported by the Koran. The practice of deceiving being OK for muslims when it furthers the cause of islam is known as ‘taqiyya”. Look it up. You will find lots of muslim websites that distort the meaning of this word to shield the truth of this practice from naive westerns about islam. This lying about the meaning of the word “taqiyya” to keep non muslims from knowing about it is itself taqiyya.

      So when this guy is saying that the muslim anti Israel propaganda is a lie, you cant bet he means it. To claim that he, as a muslim, is lying to promote Israel doesn’t really make any sense.

      Report Post »  
    • SurhanSurhan
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 10:32pm

      @ JACST102- You said: “To lie to promote islam, or to disguise something negative about islam (like everything about it) is completely acceptable and supported by the Koran. ”

      Please, share the scripture from the Qur’an (there is no such thing as a religious book in Islam called a Koran) that says it’s okay to lie to promote/disguise something about Islam.

      You said: “The practice of deceiving being OK for muslims when it furthers the cause of islam is known as ‘taqiyya”. ”

      Tell me, is the following scripture taqiyya?:

      1 Corinthians 9:19-25: Even though I (Paul/Saul) am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.

      22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.

      If Muhammad spoke these words would they be taqiyya?

      Report Post »  
  • Nanner-SW
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 3:24pm

    I befriended some liberals in my college years and tried to understand them. They were all well intended. Even the radical ones have a reason for their beliefs. (Self-proclaimed radical) My room mate believed that it should be law that when prenatal tests show for a child to have defects that child is to be aborted. Apparently as a child, she was mistakenly placed in a class with some severely impaired children and gained the mentality that all handicapped children are useless (we later debated about this). Point in all of this, people should not seclude themselves by staying with like-minded people, only reading like-minded news sources, ext, but delving into other peoples’ views. It will either change your mind by truth (such as this fellow) or help pick-out weaknesses in your stance and force your to confront them (my experience), either way it will make you stronger.

    Report Post » Nanner-SW  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 3:20pm

    I am glad this guy saw the light. He is beginning to think for himself. However, right now……his own family is helping to conspire against him and kill him for his enlightenment. The religion of ‘peace’ (sarcasm) cannot stand too many defections..

    Report Post »  
  • Bill Wallace
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:50pm

    What is the over-under on this guy getting beheaded by his own religion?

    Report Post »  
  • Jenny Lind
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:43pm

    Good man, the truth shall set you free. How much better to love than hate. I hope he lives a long fruitfull life and raises a family in the same truth.

    Report Post »  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:32pm

    ““A lot of this hatred and intolerance comes from ignorance”
    —————————————————————
    No truer words could be spoken.

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
    • Sirfoldallot
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:42pm

      yup, sad here in America we r dumbing down the kids.

      Report Post » Sirfoldallot  
    • RepubliCorp
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 4:30pm

      The Paulbots are going to hate this story…..

      Report Post » RepubliCorp  
    • Doctor Nordo
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 6:29pm

      Really, Republicorp? I’m what you would call a “Paulbot” and I think this story is great. So….nice try? Actually no, I can’t lie. It was a horrible try.

      Report Post » Doctor Nordo  
  • rich43068
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:29pm

    This is much the same thing I experienced. In my first trip to Israel while I was in the Navy, I was shocked how wrong the US media perspective is. Everything was a lie! That was 1991.
    I visited Israel 7 times after that.
    Israel gives me goosbumps! real goosebumps! To think where I was standing! God’s country!
    Israel is the definition of tolerance in the face of HATE and Real EVIL!
    Don’t believe me, go there and try to prove me wrong!

    Report Post »  
  • rickc34
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:27pm

    Good Start . I pray that more people would support Israel. His dad would praise Hitler? If hitler had his way his dad would have never been born.

    Report Post »  
  • Delores at CH WV
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:07pm

    Great, wonderful news! This man has given me a wonderful day. This is a typical conversation to our loving God. It only takes God to knock; and, for you to open your soul and be cleansed in the love of our Lord, Jesus Christ. This man’s soul was saved in a blink of an eye. I pray that his message reaches others in his family and his friends as well as others around the world. God’s day is coming, soon. Take your blinder off; open your heart to the messages of our Lord who is calling you to his many diverse mansions to serve forever our Lord.

    Report Post »  
  • EqualJustice
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 1:55pm

    UH OH. I can’t see how any Muslim could DARE to speak out like this publicly. It’s like a death wish, isn’t it? How sad for him but he is brave.

    Report Post » EqualJustice  
    • OniKaze
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:28pm

      I wonder if he will live more the another 5 years before someone “silences” him…

      Any message that is not conveinient for the Muslim religion is quickly squashed. Muslim’s (as a religion, not the people themselves) need to be eradicated from the world. Its a religion that only promotes violence, greed, and abuse of children and women… Seriously, we have enough of that WITHOUT the help of Islam..

      But it is a good quick I.Q. test… Ask someone if they are a muslim, if the answer is “yes”, then you know a few things…

      1. They practice a religion of biggotry and sexism.
      2. They lack intellectual fore-thought.
      3. And they practice a religion the instructs them to KILL you, if you are not like them…

      Kinda makes you feel as warm and fuzzy, don’t it?

      Report Post » OniKaze  
  • NewLife56
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 1:52pm

    I sure hope this man hears the words of Christ, I would love to have this guy as a Brother.

    Report Post » NewLife56  
    • shakedowncrews
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:03pm

      He already is a brother, NewLife56. Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all three Abramaic religions, believe in the same God but different prophets. He has opened his mind, perhaps it’s time you opened yours.

      Report Post » shakedowncrews  
    • LetUsReason
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:33pm

      You must be one of those people who only regard other people as “brothers” (or sisters) if they believe exactly like you do. In reality, we are ALL children of God. Doesn’t the New Testament say something to the effect of: “If we love those who love us, what reward have we?“ And ”If we salute our brethren only, what do we do more than the Pharisees?”

      It’s pretty easy to call someone a brother when they think and act just like you. The trick is to call them your brother when they don’t.

      Report Post »  
  • smartgirl
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 1:41pm

    Good for you, Kasim Hafeez! You found the truth and are proclaiming it. You can – and will – change minds and lives as you continue on your path.

    Report Post »  
  • nobull14
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 1:34pm

    I wish more Muslims would see through the lies they been taught and live in peace . This is a brave man and I hope God will protect him and his family !!!!!.

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 1:27pm

    Glad tidings indeed; one step at a time.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
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