UK counter-terrorism unit demands ban on pro-Palestinian shooter
Steam removes Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque from sale in the UK
A pro-Palestinian shooter has been removed from sale in the UK at the request of the nation's counter-terrorism authorities.
Eurogamer reports that UK players can no longer purchase Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a title that explores the conflict between Israel and Palestine from the latter's perspective.
According to the report, Steam emailed Nidal Nijm – the game's Brazilian-Palestinian developer – saying it had "received a request from authorities in the UK to block the game and have applied such country restrictions."
Nijm asked for more details on the reasoning behind this, observing that his game is "not too much different than any other shooter game on Steam, like Call of Duty."
Steam responded: "We were contacted by the Counter Terrorism Command of the United Kingdom, specifically the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). 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."
In a statement to 404 Media, the CTIRU said it "[does] not comment on specific content or any communications we may have with specific platforms or providers."
Speaking to the same site, Nijm said: "I do not blame Valve nor Steam, the blame is on the UK government and authorities that are pissed off by a video game. 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."
Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque remains on sale in other markets, including the US, although it was banned in Germany and Australia for not going through those nations' classification processes.