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Escape from Lebanon
Lebanon was unsafe, with explosions and many threats around the corner. At the age of 12, Hazem and his family went to Belmore, Sydney, in which Hazem stated he "felt a sense of familiarity". -
Bulldogs
Joined the Bulldogs Team at the age of 19, and he would describe facing these first few years as challenging, due to the completely different culture around, performing acts such as "[drinking], take drugs, or womanise". Hazem would also be doubtful towards himself and his identity as a Muslim when comparing himself to his team, asking himself questions: "A Muslim migrant playing professional Rugby League?", this went from someone being tolerant and perseverant to becoming doubtful to himself. -
September 11th 2001
The event of 9/11 had occurred and Islamophobia in Australia had reached an all time high. Hazem described when meeting his team as being "in shock", followed by "waves of hatred" in the community. -
The Other Side
Around this time, Hazem is portrayed to be one that is perseverant and a peaceful being, this is shown by him trying to "diffuse the situation" in which he had "[broke] up a fight between two brothers". This scene played a big role into Hazem's past back in Lebanon where it was previously mentioned that it was very unsafe, and the ultimate trigger from him turning from a peaceful to a feared personality is brought upon with the guy with "the gun".