In the latest instance of censorship to come out of the European nation, the British government has ordered Steam to remove the shooter Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque from their storefront due to their apparent belief that the pro-Palestine game is a form of “‘terrorist propaganda'”.
Developed single-handedly by the eponymous benefactor of the Nidal Nijm Games studio, Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque is described by Nijm as “a game which addresses the Israel x 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.”
In the third-person shooter, users “play as Ahmad al-Falastini, a young Palestinian Student who was unjustly tortured and jailed by Israeli Soldiers for 5 years, had all his family killed by an Israeli Airstrike and now, after getting out from the prison, seeks revenge against those who wronged him, killed his family and stolen his homeland, by joining a new Palestinian Resistance Movement called Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Notably, in the game’s official Steam description, Nijim explicitly notes that “this game does not promote ‘terrorism’, anti-semitism, 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).
Expanding on his views in an interview given to Newsweek‘s Matthew Impelli regarding a wave of backlash to his game’s contents, Nijm further detailed, “What is happening in Gaza now has made many people ‘wake up’ and see who are the real terrorists. It is not about religion or politics anymore, it is about humanity. No one accepts the slaughtering of small children, women, elderly and civilians, as Israel is doing by willingly dropping bombs over hospitals, schools, residential buildings and so on.”
“So terrorism is a very subjective matter,” he added. “I do not see Palestinian Resistance as Terrorism, rather, I see Israeli Soldiers as the biggest terrorists of this whole world.”
Originally released in April 2022 before undergoing the ‘Remake’ treatment in 2023, Fursan al-Aqsa did not catch the attention of the British government until October 2024, at which time the country’s Counter Terrorism Command reached out to Valve and ordered to remove the game from sale within the collective isles.
“We’ve received a request from authorities in the UK to block the game and have applied such country restrictions,” a Valve representative told Njism on October 22nd, per emails personally reviewed and relayed to the public by 404 Media‘s Emanuel Maiberg.
Met with an inquiry of “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 rep further detailed, “We were contacted by the Counter Terrorism Command of the United Kingdom, specifically the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit [otherwise known as CITRU, a specific unit dedicated to identifying alleged extremist materials on the internet and subsequently removing them].”
“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,” they added. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a contact available to refer you to.”
Offering his own statement on the matter to Maiberg via email, Njism began by noting that while his game had previously been banned in Germany and Australia, those bans were based on his inability to finance a proper age rating review for Fursan al-Aqsa within each country, not outright political reasons like those behind the UK’s recent action.
“The region lock of my game in the UK was clearly due to political reasons (they are accusing my game of being ‘terrorist’ propaganda),” he told the reporter.
To this end, Njism admitted that he held no ill will towards Valve or Steam for complying with the law, noting that he would be “forever grateful to Valve for allowing the publishing of my game on Steam in the first place” and praising how the platform owner is one of the last entities to “truly respect freedom of creativity”, but rather with the UK government specifically.
“I do not blame Valve nor Steam, the blame is on the UK Government and Authorities that are pissed off by a video game,” the dev declared. “On their flawed logic, the most recent Call of Duty Black Ops 6 should be banned as well. As you play as an American Soldier and go to Iraq to kill Iraqi people. What I can say is that we see clearly the double standards.”
Drawing his statement to a close, Njim pointed to a cutscene included in Fursan al-Aqsa‘s Operation Toofan al-Aqsa Update.
Released in December 2023 and named after the Hamas organization’s codename for their October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel (and the likely reason for the UK Government’s late interest in the game’s release), Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the update introduced the ability for players “to relive the iconic day on which the brave Palestinian Resistance humiliated Israeli Military Forces” and features a cutscene wherein Hamas fighters execute Israeli Defense Force soldiers.
“I have made this cutscene just to ‘trigger’ zionists and to piss them off, and as well to bring into the table [the question of] ‘What means freedom of speech in reality?'” he explained to Maiberg. “Why was everyone OK with the infamous mission ‘No Russian’ in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007) but they can’t tolerate my game?”
Notably, this is far from the first time Njim’s game has been subjected to calls for censorship.
Shortly ahead of the game’s original December 2021 release date, the Israeli advocacy group known as The International Legal Forum called on Steam to ban the game from sale on the grounds that doing so could violate the United States’ anti-terrorism laws.
“This game, with its unhinged glorification of violence and incitement to terror, may place Valve in direct violation of United States anti-terror laws and subject to potential civil litigation,” the group wrote to Valve in October 2021. “In allowing the use of your platform for the glorification and incitement of terror, your company may be in breach of a number of U.S. anti-terrorism laws, including, but not limited to, Section 2339 of the United States Code, which prohibits the providing of ‘material support or resources’ in the ‘preparation for, or in carrying out’ a violation of certain offenses, including terrorism.”
However, as readers may have already inferred, this ban was only temporary, as Fursan al-Aqsa ultimately made its way to the Steam storefront in December 2023.
As of writing, Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque is no longer available to purchase in the UK via Steam.
However, the game is still listed on Steam in other regions of the world (save the aforementioned Germany and Australia), for a regular price tag of $14.99 (though it is currently on sale for just $5 until December 4th).