Valve Corporation has removed a “controversial” game from its Steam platform in the United Kingdom following a request from the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), a division of the UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing. The game, Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, allows players to simulate attacks on Israeli Defense Force positions and has been criticized by some for promoting extremist content.
Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a third-person shooter where players step into the shoes of Ahmad al-Falastini; a student who was tortured and jailed for five years by Israeli soldiers. During that time, his family was killed in an Israeli airstrike and joined a Palestinian group to seek revenge and free his homeland.
The game, developed by Brazilian creator Nidal Nijm and originally released in 2022, gained renewed attention following the release of an update that references the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. The update includes depictions of Hamas fighters using powered paragliders, the method used by the terrorist organization to invade Israel, to infiltrate Israeli military bases in addition to other violent scenarios that included the massacre of civilians though the latter is not depicted in the game.
Valve informed Nijm of the removal via email, shared on the game’s Steam Page announcement for the new update, citing the request from the UK authorities. “We’ve received a request from authorities in the UK to block the game and have applied such country restrictions,” a Valve representative wrote (Update: the original post appears to have been removed for an unknown reason).
The CTIRU has been active since 2010, working to identify and remove what it deems “extremist online content,” with over 310,000 pieces removed by 2018.
Nijm expressed disappointment over the decision to 404 Media but acknowledged Valve’s legal obligations and replied,
“It’s sad to hear this, because, as we all know, my game is not too much different than any other Shooter Game on Steam, like Call of Duty, in example. But did they give you a specific reason?”
The Valve representative responded to Nijm’s question by stating,
“We were contacted by the Counter Terrorism Command of the United Kingdom, specifically the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). As with any authority for a region the [sic] oversees and governs what content can be made available, we have to comply with their requests. Unfortunately, I don’t have a contact available to refer you to.”
The Brazilian developer appears to bear Valve no ill will over their decision and is grateful to the company stating, “So I do not blame Valve nor Steam, the blame is on the UK Government and Authorities that are pissed off by a videogame.”
Nijm went on to defend his game as a form of creative expression, questioning the double standards in the gaming industry and referencing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s infamous “No Russian” level, where players are put in the role of a terrorist who massacres unarmed civilians at an airport, in his interview with 404 Media.
While Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque remains available in other regions, it is already restricted in Germany and Australia though that is due to the lack of an age rating which Nijm cited as prohibitively expensive to obtain (€5,000 and 2,000 AU$).
However, the trailer for Operation al-Aqsa Flood was removed by YouTube and Megaupload where it had been uploaded to.
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