Chris Lange, FISM News
Facebook recently removed a game depicting a Palestinian “freedom fighter” assassinating Israeli soldiers from its platform, saying its content violated community standards. The move came after pro-Israeli groups pressured Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg to intervene.
“We are very thankful to Sheryl Sandberg for taking immediate action and for their partnership to fight the plague of hate and anti-Semitism on their platform,” said Duvi Honig, CEO of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, who contacted Sandberg demanding the game’s removal, according to an Israel National News report.
“Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” is scheduled for release in December on Stream, the world’s largest game streaming site. The game, developed by Brazilian-Palestinian Nidal Nijm, has players assume the role of a jihadist who assassinates Israeli Defense Force soldiers in a series of extremely graphic, bloody scenes.
Players of the game assume the role of Ahmad al-Falastini (Ahmad the Palestinian), a young Palestinian student on a mission to exact revenge on IDF soldiers for his imprisonment and torture. Falastani, now free, joins Fursan al-Aqsa, a powerful new Palestinian Resistance Movement whose tactics mirror that of real terrorist organizations in the region. The game’s trailer bears the tagline: ‘With bullets and blood we will free Palestine,” in English and Arabic, and shows Falastini killing Israeli soldiers with knives, guns, and explosives, while shouting “Allahu Akbar” – “God is Great” – interspersed with flashing slogans like “We resist until death” and “Resistance is not terrorism.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of Israel’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, expressed outrage over the game’s release, calling on Brazilian officials to ban its promotion, according to a “Daily Mail” report. “The Foreign and Justice Ministries must take action and ensure that the Brazilian authorities do not allow this game of incitement to murder to be advertised,” he said.
The pro-Israeli Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is demanding accountability from the game’s Washington-based distributor, Valve Software, tweeting “5 of 6 adults and 3 of 5 teens experienced harassment in online multiplayer games. @valvesoftware – you’re contributing to the problem. Stop hosting hateful games like Fursan al-Aqsa on @steam and show you care about reducing toxicity and hate.” Accompanying the tweet is a graphic with the words “Hate is No Game.”
5 of 6 adults and 3 of 5 teens experienced harassment in online multiplayer games. @valvesoftware – you’re contributing to the problem. Stop hosting hateful games like Fursan al-Aqsa on @steam and show you care about reducing toxicity and hate. https://t.co/jx0Wuyu45s
— ADL (@ADL) October 12, 2021
The game’s website includes a statement from Nijm, who says he developed “Fursan al-Aqsa” with the aim of “breaking the cliché of portraying Muslim and Arabs as Terrorists, Bandits, Villains, and the Americans/Israelis as the ‘Good Guys’ and ‘Heroes’ of History.”
Players who “die” see the congratulatory message, “YOU BECAME A MARTYR. Rejoice, O mother of the martyr, rejoice! Prepare your son for his marriage (in paradise). Tie the band on all your pain and spread his wedding handkerchief. Spread your anger against the oppressor. His injustice must be stopped,” against the backdrop of a Palestinian flag, a bloodied hand, a gun, and a knife.
Despite his game’s glorification of the murder of Jews, Nijm insists it is “in no way anti-Semitic,” pointing out that players do not kill civilians. A disclaimer on his website reads: “This game only contains the virtual representation of the Palestinian Resistance Movement against the Israeli Military Occupation, which is officially recognized by the United Nations.”
Nijm credits his father, a former Palestinian Fatah fighter who immigrated to Brazil, for his idea to develop the game. A free, downloadable version of the game is currently available.