ALTERNATIVE VOICES: PART 2
Last week The Courier carried the perspective of the Israeli-Hamas war through the eyes of Dr. Shakil Hafiz and his wife, Sadaf Cassim. This week offers a closer look at their thoughts on the U.S. response and how they have taken action in their own, small part of the world.
“In the Name of Almighty God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful …”
So began a letter written by Dr. Shakil Hafiz to United State Senator John Thune on Nov. 18 of last year, almost six weeks after the longstanding conflict between Palestine and Israel re-escalated with furious violence.
Hafiz and his wife, Sadaf Cassim — Freeman residents since 2015 — had been watching with heavy hearts and grave concern the war in the Middle East, specifically its impact in Gaza and the West Bank, where many who share their Islamic faith traditions were being killed.
Hafiz first took action by calling the offices of South Dakota’s congressional delegation urging for a cease fire and for the United States to discontinue sending financial aid to Israel and received a response from Thune on Nov. 17.
“On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israeli communities, taking the lives of 30 innocent Americans and more than 1,400 Israeli civilians,” the letter from Thune’s office began. “Hamas fighters destroyed homes and kidnapped more than 200 hostages. Israel is now at war with Hamas, defending its unequivocal right to exist against a terrorist, Iranian proxy that is determined to wipe Israel off the map. This evil and terror must be stopped.”
Thune’s letter defended the United States’ pro-Israel position largely because of the presence of Hamas on the Israeli border, as well as its ties to Iran.
“Hamas acquires 90 percent of its financing from Iran in support of its extreme, militant religious ideology that has long threatened Israel’s security,” Thune’s office wrote. “Iran also finances and arms the terrorist organization Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, Houthi rebels in Yemen, Shia militias in Iraq and Syria, and it sends drones to Russia for its war against Ukraine. Through proxy terrorist organizations, Iran is committing murder all over the world.
“The United States must stand with Israel to ensure that it has everything it needs to defend itself and eradicate this terrorist regime.”
One day later, on Nov. 18, Hafiz responded with his opening salutation, a plea for Thune to think of the situation through the eyes of a child, and with context.
“Nobody is denying that what Hamas did was wrong and reprehensible and an act of terror,” he wrote. “But as anyone with children knows, there are always two sides to a story. I do not need to educate you on the established crimes Israel has committed and the persecution that the Palestinian people have faced since the Israeli occupation.”
Hafiz further outlined what happened after both sides declared war, and that “the Israelis grossly transgressed what was acceptable.”
Israel cut off essential resources required to live in an area of more than 2 million people,” Hafiz said, and then localized it for impact.
“I live in Freeman, SD,” he wrote. “God forbid, if there was a terrorist who lived among us, would you support cutting off fuel, water and electricity to Freeman (all within a blockade)? Would you cut off these essential resources to a city where 35% of their population was older than 65? Would you be OK with that if your parents were here in our nursing home? Or if your grandchildren went to our Freeman Academy? Freeman is only 1300 people. Gaza is over 1700 times larger than Freeman. You may be a politician now, but you were born a human. I am going to ask your inner child: Was cutting off essential resources to the people of Gaza the right thing to do?”
Hafiz also took issue with the tone of the response from Sen. Thune’s office.
“You paint the United States of America as a knight in shining armor upon a white stallion, standing up for all things true and just,” he wrote … “Are we really doing this because we care about liberty and justice for all? Or do we preferentially stand behind Israel because of its role in the United States’ foreign policy?
“What is happening right now in the Middle East is a grave violation of humanity,” Hafiz said as part of his closing remarks. “This cannot continue.”
TAKING A STAND
Shakil’s exchange with Sen. Thune — which The Courier published in its entirety on Nov. 23, 2023 — illustrates two additional perspectives that he and Sadaf want to share with the public. In addition to their concerns about the Israeli occupation of Palestine not being fully understood and the racism and judgement that accompanies the Western world’s opinion on Islam, the say:
1. The United States’ support of Israel is politically and monetarily motivated, and that;
2. Standing up for one’s beliefs in the name of justice — and taking action toward that end — is simply the right thing to do.
“We’re going to have to stand in front of God on the day of judgement and hear, ‘Your brother and sisters in Palestine were being killed; what did you do? Did you sit here and watch Netflix and just keep playing basketball with your kids?’” says Shakil. “We’re all going to be questioned for every blessing God gave you. ‘I gave you eyes; what did you see? I gave you a brain; what did you do?’”
“There’s this huge injustice happening,” says Sadaf, reflecting again on what she says is Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and its persecution of Muslims in an effort toward a wholesale slaughter. “Why aren’t more people raising awareness so we can put pressure in the right spots for change? I feel like we are in prime position to bring something to this community that’s educational — something that teaches about a history that isn’t talked about.”
Both place blame on mainstream media for how the war is being presented to the world and the picture in which Hamas is being painted.
“When the Oct. 7 attack happened, it was a monstrosity, but people think that Hamas is the worst thing to happen since Hitler,” says Sadaf. “Israel has been taking hostages from Palestine for decades; they’re prisoners without a charge.
“But that’s what Israel has always done,” she continues. “They get the world to think others are evil so they can go in and destroy their land.”
Shakil shares his wife’s grievance with how the war is being presented and is concerned that many people take their favorite news source at face value and leave it at that.
“I think we need to read more than one news source, first of all,” he says, “and whatever we do consume, we need to be able to think about it and not just take it blindly as fact.”
And it’s deeply troubling, Shakil says, that the conflict in the Middle East is being sensationalized by national media, particularly through its pro-Israel lens.
“This has more value as entertainment than as news,” he says, “and it breaks my heart.”
U.S. SUPPORT OF ISRAEL
As his letter to Sen. Thune stated, Shakil and Sadaf both share grave concerns about the United States’ longstanding allegiance to — and its ongoing support for — Israel. And when asked why she thinks that is, Sadaf doesn’t flinch.
“Follow the money,” she says quickly, noting the lavish trips that Israel funds and the level of lobbying in which anything anti-Israel is couched in antisemitism. “Part of the anger that we are feeling is that, on face value, we claim the principles of this country are based on democracy, but behind the scenes, democracy in this country is a joke.
“Our government is bought out by other governments.”
“How can somebody who professes to be a righteous person knowingly commit such deception?” says Shakil. “Don’t you know that you’ll have to answer for your actions on the day of judgement? And all these politicians, if they truly are being bought out, isn’t there any fear of God?
“You couldn’t buy me out with a hundred million dollars,” he continues. “To buy me out would be committing an act of evil; why would I sell my afterlife?”
The fact that the United States government and media does not acknowledge the whole picture as it pertains to the Hamas-Israeli conflict — and therein work toward true justice — is of particular concern because this is a country that Shakil and Sadaf love deeply.
“In case there was ever a doubt, I love America,” Shakil wrote in concluding his letter to Sen. Thune. “I love her air, I love her land, and I love her from sea to shining sea. America is beautiful. I was born here and Lord willing I will die here and be buried here. I cannot stay on the sidelines and just watch when I see this beautiful country lose its childish compass.”
And his letter was signed:
Shakil Hafiz
United States Citizen
World Citizen
PLAN OF ACTION
Shakil wasn’t surprised to see how the war was being presented following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
“We have always known the truth,” he said. “Here’s Palestine and here’s Israel, and Palestinian Muslims are being oppressed and the world isn’t doing anything about it, so what’s new. So, when this happened, was it surprising? No, it wasn’t surprising at all.”
And for a while, Shakil and Sadaf sat quietly, “and our hearts were breaking,” Shakil said. “I’m not one to run my mouth, but after a while I couldn’t take it anymore, so I started calling Senators and other people in power.”
That’s what led to the exchange with Sen. Thune early last November, it’s what has led Sadaf to donate the paychecks she earns as a CNA to Palestinian relief, and it’s what has led both to speak out publicly about an injustice they have felt on their shoulders their entire lives.
“I’m a big believer in simplifying the situation — to put in the perspective of a child,” says Shakil. “You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know this isn’t right.”
“I hope and pray that we can help open people’s eyes to who is actually oppressing who — who is actually terrorizing who,” he continues. “I do think the eyes of the world are honing in, I hope and pray that a more just solution will start formulating, and I hope and pray that a new generation of politicians will change the narrative and will take a more just approach to foreign policy.”
To that end, Israel must end its occupation of Palestine, they say.
“The only solution is an end to the siege — to let Palestine be sovereign,” Shakil says. “If you want to stop creating terrorists, you have to stop terrorizing people.”
And, as angry and heartsick as they are, Shakil and Sadaf also carry hope for the future.
“This conflict has been ongoing for decades and we’re not going to get instant results,” Shakil says, “But if there is enough public pressure from the world — especially from our brothers in Israel, the U.S. and Great Britain — then I think change can happen. But we have to get our governments on board. It may seem bleak, but I don’t think it’s impossible.
“Any step in that direction is a good step,” he says. “Things can change dramatically with enough public pressure.”
Like her husband, Sadaf takes her responsibility as a truth-seeker and truth-teller seriously.
“I want Islam to be free,” she says. “I want Muslims to be free of the label. That’s at the base of all my frustration. I want Muslims to be associated with the goodness that we deserve and that we’ve earned, and not with all of this violence and terrorism that people associate us with.
“That’s how things are shaped, and my objective is the reshape that,” she continues. “I want our voices to be heard. I want the voices of the oppressed to be heard, and their truth to be heard. And I feel like right now there’s huge propaganda to silence that truth. I want those other voices to be amplified and I want the world to see it.
“Only then,” she says, “will justice be served.”
