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Toronto (December 3, 2024) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) has engaged with Canadian law enforcement and online gaming distributor Valve Corporation, calling for the immediate removal of a game that glorifies terrorism and the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in southern Israel.

The highly offensive content featured in the violent action game Fursan Al-Aqsa: Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in which gamers play as a Palestinian terrorist who murders Israeli soldiers, recently surfaced following an update to the game titled Operation Al-Aqsa Flood that allows players to play a Hamas terrorist who paraglides into Israel on Oct. 7 and invades the Re’im military base to murder Israelis. The game instructs players to “kill Zionist soldiers and take some of them as hostages.”

The game’s developer, Nidal Nijm, has publicly stated the update allows players to “relive the iconic day.”

In a letter to Valve Corporation President Gabe Newell yesterday, FSWC Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy Jaime Kirzner-Roberts expressed alarm over the game that’s available on its platform, Steam.

“This game glorifies horrific acts of terrorism and is rife with violent and antisemitic content, including the explicit recreation of the October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel by Hamas,” said Kirzner-Roberts. “Any content that glorifies terrorist attacks on Israelis is unacceptable and contravenes the fundamental principles of responsible gaming, which require platforms to promote safe, respectful, and inclusive online environments.”

FSWC has urged the company to take prompt action and pre-empt any investigation by law enforcement by removing Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque from Steam in Canada, noting the game was recently banned in the United Kingdom after counter-terrorism law enforcement determined it violates laws against promoting terrorism.

FSWC has brought the game to the attention of counter-terrorism officials in Canada due to its breach of Canadian laws and standards of hate speech and violent incitement.

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