Video Game Glorifying Terrorism

"Where are those who carry the explosive belts? Where are them [sic]? Come here, I want an explosive belt to blow up myself over the Zionists!!! It is a jihad, a jihad of victory or martyrdom!" 

"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."

"Allahu akbar. From the river to the sea."

"Today is the Day of Avenge [sic]. I will make you taste the pain and burn you like rats! We are people who never surrender, we either win or become martyrs, and both are victory!"

Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, gameplay

"Fursan al-Aqsa is not a mere 'game', but a display in utter sadism."

"In glorifying the barbaric atrocities of October 7th, the creator is effectively contributing to the recruitment and radicalization of potential terrorists and inciting them to recreate and carry out such gruesome acts of violence."

"This may place both the creator of the game and the distributor Steam, and parent company, Valve, in direct violation of Canada's anti-terror legislation and Criminal Code."

Arson Ostrovsky, chief executive, International Legal Forum (ILF)

"This game does not promote 'terrorism', antisemitism, hate against Jews or any other group, this is a message of protest against the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian lands. Fursan al-Aqsa is a video game about war like many other games here on Steam [Six days in Fallujah, Call of Duty and others]."

"All the Characters, Art and Storylines depicted in this game are purely the work of fiction. Any similarity to persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The plot of this game is a fictional history inspired by real facts. Even the political and military groups depicted on the game are fictional. In this game, the player does not shoot Israeli civilians, women, children, elderly, only soldiers."

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In late 2021, prior to the release of this game, Valve was warned by the International Legal Forum (ILF), a global network of lawyers organized to combat antisemitism, that distributing Fursan al-Aqsa could be a "direct violation of United States anti-terror laws and (be) subject to potential civil litigation". That warning doesn't appear to have impressed the distributor of the game, one whit. The video game glorifying the October attack on Israel remains available on the digital distribution service, Steam.

Originally released in 2022, following the Hamas invasion of southern Israel in 2023, an updated version invites players to recreate some atrocities like attacking an Israeli military base with the use of motorized paragliders, the very tactic Hamas engaged in on October 7. In the United Kingdom, the game was pulled from Steam when the country's digital counterterrorism unit contacted the company. The game remains accessible for Canadian users on Steam, and Black Friday sales saw it heavily discounted.

One of the world's largest online gaming marketplaces, Valve Corp., the parent company of Steam, is not interested in explaining itself. Gameplay footage shows militants chanting "Allahu akbar" and "From the river to the sea" on YouTube. Players can dress as kaffiyeh-uniformed terrorists wearing the Hamas-conventional green headbands. While Israeli forces in the game are identified with an inverted red triangle; the Hams symbol used in its propaganda videos designed to demonstrate by the triangle that whoever is identified with it, is ripe for death.

ILF chief executive Arsen Ostrovsky warned that the company's decision not to remove the game for its Canadian users, may lead his group to "consider pursuing immediate legal action". The game developer, Brazilian-Palestinian Nidal Nijim, claims that Fursan al-Aqsa doesn't encourage antisemitism; as a war-based shooter game, like many others, it merely offers a different perspective on  ongoing conflicts. His disingenuous claim that players do not "shoot Israeli civilians, women, children, elderly, only soldiers", essentially white-washes reality to make the game more palatable to players and immune from criticism.

Before its post-October 7 update, older footage shows opening credits featuring a Palestinian militant with a suicide vest. Abu Ubaida, the name of a recognizable Hamas spokesperson representing its al-Qassam Brigades 'military wing', is the game's narrator. Nijim in an interview with a YouTube game reviewer identifies his "father is a former Palestinian fighter as well" -- with the Yasser Arafat-led terror group Fatah.

"Authorities in Canada should follow the lead of their British counterparts, where police and counterterrorism authorities prohibited its sale across the U.K., due to concerns that such violent and extremist online material may be used as a tool to recruit potential terrorists and incite acts of violence."

Arsen Ostrovsky, ILF