ALBAWABA - Following action by British authorities, the 2022 video game Knights of Al-Aqsa: Knights of Al-Aqsa Mosque has been taken off from the UK's Steam platform.
The game's fictitious Palestinian character, Ahmed, seeks revenge on the invading soldiers on behalf of his family. It was created by Brazilian Muslim developer Nidal Najm. Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, its most recent iteration, was heavily criticized for referencing Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The revised version features a cutscene where the protagonist uses a motorized glider to sneak into Israel's Re'im military base, mimicking Hamas tactics. Missions in the game include battles with Israeli troops and sequences showing unarmed troops being executed. Najm asserted that rather than encouraging violence, the game was meant to be a political protest that highlighted Palestinian resistance.
Following a contact with Valve Corporation, Steam's parent firm, by the UK's Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit, the removal was made. Al Jazeera examined the emails and found that Valve complied with the request, stating that it was its duty to follow local regulations. Although the game is prohibited in the UK, it is nevertheless accessible in a number of other nations, with the exception of Germany and Australia, where age-related restrictions apply.
In defense of the game, Najm claimed that its goal was to confront double standards in gaming material and to elicit thought. While his creation was banned, he attacked the approval of video games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which feature American forces murdering Iraqis. The game has been downloaded more than 50,000 times in spite of criticism, and gamers have given it varying evaluations.
Broader discussions about free speech, content moderation, and biases in the regulation of politically sensitive content have been spurred by the incident. In the meantime, the fight that the game alludes to still results in a considerable death toll, underscoring the tensions in the actual world that served as the inspiration for its development.
