Never Again?

This so-called 'documentary' feels more like a promotional infomercial. I didn't feel like the presentation convinced me of what they were promoting. The people they used to convey their message were neither believable nor credible. Throughout the film, I felt like they were trying too hard to get their agenda across, which left me with too many questions and lots of doubt. Lastly; the main presenter who constantly revealed his 'awakening' and 'conversion' with religious zeal was not in the least bit believable. He slipped up a few times with some of his personal comments which led me to believe he was nothing more than an imposter planted in this farcical charade to make it appear more believable. He fails; and this promotional film fails as well.

Among many Jews and their Christian supporters exists a fear that the rampant anti-Israel rhetoric which they perceive to be the norm today -- whether found on the internet or on university and college campuses -- mirrors (either in part or to a large degree) the same antisemitic spirit that had characterized the Nazis. Indeed, what is of grave concern to those like Irving Roth (one of two human subjects profiled in NEVER AGAIN?) is that words are today being spoken against Jews/Israel that are once again great cause for alarm. Here in this highly important documentary film, we meet Irving Roth, a Holocaust survivor, and Kasim Hafeez, who grew up a hatemonger until an absolutely miraculous life-changing transformation within him occurred, in which his mind was set free to see the error of his former way of thinking. Although Mr. Roth's story of being sent to Auschwitz at the age of fifteen is powerful in its firsthand eyewitness testimony, for me it's the extraordinarily unique experience of Mr. Hafeez that makes this a must-see film. Here is a man, in Hafeez, raised in the UK and who as a radical Muslim at the time was about as anti-Israel as anyone could be. He speaks of flyers that were distributed in his neighborhood depicting Jews in illustrations, in the most dehumanizing of caricatures. He tells of having swallowed all the anti-Jewish propaganda fed to him, hook, line and sinker. Gradually, over time, his indoctrinated mind would become opened to the realization of just how misled he had been and credits his reading of Alan Dershowitz's edifying "The Case for Israel" as being partly responsible for his remarkable awakening. Although, it was Kasim's travels to Israel that he says is what ultimately factored in the deconditioning process he underwent, where during his visit he was able to see for himself how things actually were and how shocked he was to discover that what he'd been taught all along was totally backwards, completely false. Far from finding a region full of Israeli 'oppressors,' much to his amazement Kasim found a multicultural land where various peoples and religious belief systems co-existed, as one would expect of any democracy. The film leaves the viewer with a warm feeling of togetherness, that such a thing as living in peace is indeed possible, if only the world had more high-minded souls like Irving Roth and the amazing Kasim Hafeez in it -- who in the film's closing moments are filmed side by side in heartwarming, if not tearjerking, dialogue. Although these two men are the documentary's primary interviewees, we also hear from a few others, including Dennis Prager and Deborah Lipstadt (who was brilliantly portrayed by actress Rachel Weisz in the movie "Denial"). Incidentally, aside from the aforementioned book by Dershowitz, "The Jew is Not My Enemy" by Tarek Fatah is another good one, as authored by a Muslim.

This so-called 'documentary' feels more like a promotional infomercial. I didn't feel like the presentation convinced me of what they were promoting. The people they used to convey their message were neither believable nor credible. Throughout the film, I felt like they were trying too hard to get their agenda across, which left me with too many questions and lots of doubt. Lastly; the main presenter who constantly revealed his 'awakening' and 'conversion' with religious zeal was not in the least bit believable. He slipped up a few times with some of his personal comments which led me to believe he was nothing more than an imposter planted in this farcical charade to make it appear more believable. He fails; and this promotional film fails as well.

Among many Jews and their Christian supporters exists a fear that the rampant anti-Israel rhetoric which they perceive to be the norm today -- whether found on the internet or on university and college campuses -- mirrors (either in part or to a large degree) the same antisemitic spirit that had characterized the Nazis. Indeed, what is of grave concern to those like Irving Roth (one of two human subjects profiled in NEVER AGAIN?) is that words are today being spoken against Jews/Israel that are once again great cause for alarm. Here in this highly important documentary film, we meet Irving Roth, a Holocaust survivor, and Kasim Hafeez, who grew up a hatemonger until an absolutely miraculous life-changing transformation within him occurred, in which his mind was set free to see the error of his former way of thinking. Although Mr. Roth's story of being sent to Auschwitz at the age of fifteen is powerful in its firsthand eyewitness testimony, for me it's the extraordinarily unique experience of Mr. Hafeez that makes this a must-see film. Here is a man, in Hafeez, raised in the UK and who as a radical Muslim at the time was about as anti-Israel as anyone could be. He speaks of flyers that were distributed in his neighborhood depicting Jews in illustrations, in the most dehumanizing of caricatures. He tells of having swallowed all the anti-Jewish propaganda fed to him, hook, line and sinker. Gradually, over time, his indoctrinated mind would become opened to the realization of just how misled he had been and credits his reading of Alan Dershowitz's edifying "The Case for Israel" as being partly responsible for his remarkable awakening. Although, it was Kasim's travels to Israel that he says is what ultimately factored in the deconditioning process he underwent, where during his visit he was able to see for himself how things actually were and how shocked he was to discover that what he'd been taught all along was totally backwards, completely false. Far from finding a region full of Israeli 'oppressors,' much to his amazement Kasim found a multicultural land where various peoples and religious belief systems co-existed, as one would expect of any democracy. The film leaves the viewer with a warm feeling of togetherness, that such a thing as living in peace is indeed possible, if only the world had more high-minded souls like Irving Roth and the amazing Kasim Hafeez in it -- who in the film's closing moments are filmed side by side in heartwarming, if not tearjerking, dialogue. Although these two men are the documentary's primary interviewees, we also hear from a few others, including Dennis Prager and Deborah Lipstadt (who was brilliantly portrayed by actress Rachel Weisz in the movie "Denial"). Incidentally, aside from the aforementioned book by Dershowitz, "The Jew is Not My Enemy" by Tarek Fatah is another good one, as authored by a Muslim.