This week, the video game distribution platform Steam withdrew Fursan al-Aqsa, The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque from its store in the United Kingdom. The reason? The game, which already offered to embody Palestinians in missions at the Call of Dutyrecently made an update allowing the Hamas attacks on Israel of October 7, 2003 to be played.
The game, available since 2022, has already sparked controversy several times for its content. If the game description does not explicitly mention Hamas, the intention is easily recognizable through the chosen operations or the uniforms, in particular the green headband often associated with the organization.
“My game is no different from ‘Call of Duty’”
On October 22, Valve, the company in charge of Steam, announced to the developer of Fursan al-Aqsa that the sale of the game had been blocked in the United Kingdom. According to the American site 404 Media, this ban comes from a request from the British authorities, more precisely from the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit.
“It’s sad to wait, because my game isn’t that different from other shooters on Steam like Call of Dutydeplores the Brazilian developer, “Nijm”, to 404 Media. The regional restriction of my game is clearly due to political reasons, my game is accused of being terrorist propaganda. (…) According to their erroneous logic, the most recent Call of Duty, Black Ops 6should be banned too, because it plays an American soldier who goes to Iraq to kill Iraqis. » In France, the game is still available on Steam, at least for now.