Video game recreating Hamas October 7 attack banned as ‘terrorist propaganda’-Michael Beckwith-Entertainment – Metro

The delisted title is still available in the US (Nidal Njim Games)

The developer behind a now banned Israel/Palestine shooter has defended it as being no different to the Call Of Duty games.

Valve has removed controversial video games from its Steam platform before, such as one that let you play as a school shooter and another where you control a rapist,  but this is the first time the UK’s counter-terrorism unit has got involved.

That’s what’s happened with Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque, although neither Steam nor the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) have given an exact reason for the removal.

The game’s developer, however, claims this was a politically motivated decision and that the game is accused of being ‘terrorist propaganda.’

What is Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque?

Created by Nidal Nijm, a Brazilian-Palestinian developer, Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque has been available to play since April 2022 and, at a first glance, seems like a typical military shooter.

Describing itself as the ‘Palestinian Max Payne on steroids,’ the game explicitly depicts the conflict between Israel and Palestine. As such, you play as a Palestinian student who joins a resistance movement to get revenge after he was tortured by Israeli soldiers and an Israeli airstrike killed his family.

While the game is no longer available here in the UK, it’s still available for purchase in the US. Its Steam listing mentions that its goal is to show the Israel/Palestine conflict ‘from a Palestinian perspective, breaking the cliché of portraying Muslim and Arabs as terrorists, bandits, villains and the Americans/Israelis as the ‘good guys’ and ‘heroes’ of history.’

The description is also keen to stress that it doesn’t promote terrorism or antisemitism, adding ‘This is a message of protest against the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian lands.’

The game is also unavailable in Germany and Australia but only because the developer can’t afford to pay for age ratings (Nidal Njim Games)

Why was Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque removed from Steam?

According to 404 Media, who spoke with developer Nijm, Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque was removed from Steam on October 22. This was before the game saw an update in November that allows players to recreate aspects of the October 7 attack by Hamas, but apparently CTIRU stepped in before it was announced.

In an email sent to Nijm, which he only recently shared with 404 Media, Valve informed him it had been contacted by the CTIRU in order to delist his game. When pressed on why exactly this was done, all it said was ‘As with any authority for a region the oversees [sic] and governs what content can be made available, we have to comply with their requests.’

404 Media did approach the CTIRU directly for an explanation, but it only answered with, ‘… we do not comment on specific content or any communication we may have with specific platforms or providers.’

Nijm states that, in his opinion, the game’s removal was ‘due to political reasons’ and that it was deemed ‘terrorist propaganda.’ Nijm argues his game is no different to the likes of Call Of Duty, drawing a specific comparison to the latest release, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6, which is set during the Gulf War.

‘On their flawed logic, the most recent Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 should be banned as well,’ says Nijm, pointing out how Black Ops 6’s campaign involves you playing as an American soldier and killing swathes of Iraqi enemies, ‘What I can say is that we see clearly the double standards.’

Nijm holds no animosity towards Valve, saying he understands why it had to remove his game and that he’s still grateful it allowed him to publish his game on Steam in the first place.

The game had previously been available for two years (Nidal Njim Games)

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