Draft:Kasem M. Raad

Early Life and Education

Kasem M. Raad was born on June 17, 2003, in Beirut, Lebanon. Raised in the Hadath neighborhood, Kasem was introduced to creative arts early, influenced by his father, a calligraphy artist and set decorator. He attended private schools, completing his basic education at Khomeini Educational Complex. After passing the Lebanese National Exam (Grade 9 Brevet), he chose to skip traditional secondary education to focus on media production, studying Graphic Design in Beirut​.

Career Beginnings

Kasem's passion for media and visual storytelling began during his school years, where he enjoyed creating presentations and visuals. By age 14, he had already started freelancing to develop his skills. He gained experience working at various media outlets, including MTV Lebanon and OTV, and volunteered for film festivals in Lebanon. He later took on roles such as a teacher at Rammal Design and a camera operator​.

Move to Berlin and Founding of The KMR Brands

In 2019, Kasem moved to Berlin to further his media career. There, he built on his earlier project, Studio K Production, and rebranded it as K Produktions, which eventually became part of The KMR Brands, a media conglomerate he founded.

Media and Film Involvement

Kasem has participated in several high-profile film festivals, including the Giffoni Experience and the Berlin Sci-Fi Film Festival. He has worked in various roles such as cinematographer, producer, and director, with credits in short films like Virtuell and Reflection.

Personal Life

Kasem faced challenges growing up, including being ridiculed for his non-traditional interests and experiencing the loss of his father at age 15. Despite these difficulties, he pursued his passion for media, which has led him to success in both Lebanon and Germany​.

Axel Springer Controversy

In 2023, during his multimedia apprenticeship at Axel Springer, Kasem M. Raad found himself at the center of a controversy that led to his termination. After starting his three-year apprenticeship in September at Welt TV, a channel under the German media giant Axel Springer, Raad questioned the company’s pro-Israel stance. In the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, Axel Springer reaffirmed its support for Israel in an internal post titled “We stand with Israel”.

Raad initially sought clarification by privately messaging the publisher of the internal post on the company's platform, asking why Axel Springer supported Israel, but received no response. He later posted the same question publicly on the company’s message board under the article, which was met with hostility from colleagues. Soon after, Raad was called into a meeting and reprimanded for his comments. In a second meeting, he was warned by Adib Sisani, the company's spokesperson, not to challenge the company's position on Israel.

Raad posted a video on his personal YouTube channel attempting to debunk parts of a viral narrative related to the Hamas attack, questioning the accuracy of claims that babies were beheaded, a story that even the Israeli Defense Forces could not confirm. Following this, on October 20, Raad was called into another meeting and handed a termination letter. He stated that his firing was directly linked to his questioning of the company’s stance on Israel, even though his termination letter made no mention of his performance or the official reason for dismissal​.

The case drew attention to the broader context of media repression in Germany, where voices critical of Israel have faced increasing backlash in recent years, particularly following the intensification of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rights groups like Amnesty International have condemned these actions as a suppression of free speech​.