Antisemitic video game’s poor quality disappoints users

A scene in the game depicts a Palestinian character holding a machine gun and firing at Israeli soldiers, with a keffiyeh-wrapped baby strapped to his back.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

A video game in which players can take on the role of Palestinian terrorists and brutally kill IDF soldiers using guns, knives, and even a chainsaw, was recently released for public purchase.

But while Jewish advocacy groups and Israeli government ministers have complained about the antisemitic content of the game, its players have a different gripe — its low-quality design, graphics, and gameplay experience.

The Knights of Al-Aqsa Mosque game can be played on Windows PCs, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

Although Facebook recently pulled the game from its platform due to public pressure, it is still available on gaming sites Steam and GameJolt.

The game’s creator, Nidal Njim, is the son of Palestinian Muslim expats in Brazil and describes his father as an ex-Fatah “fighter.”

Characters in the game shout “Alla-hu Akbar” when firing their weapons, and the deaths of IDF soldiers are depicted in graphic, bloody detail.

On YouTube, it was clear that potential players of the game were enthused about the prospect of killing Jews, and did not distinguish between IDF soldiers, Zionists, and Jews.

One user commented, “Excellent game! Bought and diligently doing my part to unlock the ‘Six Million More’ community achievement.”

Six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, and the “six million more” call for an additional genocide of Jews is commonplace in online antisemitic chatter.

“Thanks for your support,” Nijm replied to that comment.

Reinforcing false assertion that Israel intentionally targets Palestinian children during military conflicts, another user wrote, “[I] like the realism too, as soon as a baby is on screen the Jews start calling in airstrikes.”

“Hahaha, yeah, indeed,” Nijm responded.

Notably, the game does depict a Palestinian character holding a machine gun and firing at Israeli soldiers, with a keffiyeh-wrapped baby strapped to his back.

During a discussion with a fan of the game on the website IndieDB, Nijm said that he would “hopefully” be able to send some of the profits to his family members in the Gaza Strip.

However, he admitted that the game had sold “just” 390 copies — meaning that at $15 a pop, he had netted a mere $5,850 for a project which has worked on for some five years.

Many people who purchased the game admitted that they did so for political reasons, and were unhappy with the actual content and quality of the game.

“This is a very difficult game to recommend,” wrote one user on IndieDB, whose review was voted by others as the most helpful for potential buyers. “It falls in the category of unfairly difficult, which is not helped by the level design, poor AI, and limited feedback to the player.”

Another user, who offered that he “despises Israel,” also said that he could not, in good conscience, recommend the game.

“To reiterate, unless you’re a masochist, or like the idea of patting yourself on the back for being anti-Zionist, then purchase this,” he wrote. “If you’ve arrived for the gameplay then just leave.”