A video game where players act as Palestinian terrorists and kill Israeli soldiers has been criticised by the IDF.

‘Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque’, released in April 2022, is a first-person shooter game which “addresses the Israeli x Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective”, according to its description. Promotion for the game refers to it as “The Palestinian Max Payne on steroids.”

Players take on the role of Ahmad al-Falastini who is described as “a young Palestinian student who was unjustly tortured and jailed by Israeli soldiers for five years, had all his family killed by an Israeli airstrike and now, after getting out from 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.”

The computer game allows players to take on the role of a Palestinian fighter, become a suicide bomber, and kill Israeli soldiers.

An introduction to the game shows one of the “mission objectives” is to “Kill all Zionist soldiers”.

In a video from the latest update of the game released after October 7, players paraglide down from cliffs to shoot and behead Israeli soldiers in similar fashion to how some Hamas terrorists entered kibbutzim and the Nova music festival during their attack. 

A count in the upper left-hand corner of the screen shows how many ‘Zionists’ the player has left to kill.

Additionally, players can become members of the Lion’s Den terror group in Jenin during the Battle of Nablus.

‘Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque’, released in April 2022, is a first-person shooter game which 'addresses the Israeli x Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective'

The game was created by Brazilian Muslim developer Nadal Nijm. According to his website, Nijm is a licenced Unreal Engine developer.

Unreal Engine is a series of 3D computer graphics engines developed by Epic Games, known for producing the popular video game Fortnite.

An IDF spokesman said: “It is consistent with the Hamas practice of indoctrination aimed at young audiences.”

The game has been dropped by PlayStation, Xbox and Google but it is still available for £6.39 on US-owned streaming platform Steam.

In the Steam online forum, Nijm interacts with players and provides updates on new developments to the game.

The game has been criticised by the IDF (Screenshot via YouTube)

A recent reviewer of the game wrote: “you play as the good guys and destroy the Zionists, therefore the objective arguments are NULL AND VOID. after all, there aren't a lot of games where you can play as the actual good guys in this conflict.”

The game comes with a disclaimer on Steam which reads: “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 Palestinians lands.”

Nijm told the JC that his game was “neither pro-Hamas or pro any political group” but “pro the Palestinian Resistance in general terms.”

Explaining his decision to make the game, he said: “I decided to make a game to showcase the bravery of my Palestinian people and their resistance against Israeli oppression because my father is a former fighter of the original Fatah Movement.

“Today, after the current events in Palestine, the whole world has changed their view on this conflict, and many people now realise that indeed Israel is the greatest terrorist [the actions and crimes of war committed by the Israeli military].

“Yes, the player fights and kills IDF soldiers, police, Mossad agents, guards, and the like, just like any other video game out there.

“If you observe the tone of my game, it has a mockery factor. I constantly mock the Israeli military in the same way western media used to mock us, Arabs and Muslims in games and movies.”

However, he stressed: “I do not support acts of violence against innocent people (no matter who performs these actions), people who have nothing to do with war, regardless if they are Israeli or Palestinians.

“This is my view as a Muslim, that no innocent people should be attacked. I never called for the killing of Jews.”

He concluded: “Fursan al-Aqsa is a Video Game that, despite its very controversial political message, stands on its own as a game that brings a brand new perspective in video games, a perspective never portrayed before in shooter games.”

Epic Games has been contacted for comment.