Is it bad that I agree with the anti-semite? Look, this game has a message/propaganda that I destest, but I think Free Speech is universal right (or should be), so in that light, I can't call for a ban.

Terminator, there's only ONE problem:

The Propaganda folks in Hezbollah DO market it to kids. They said so themselves and are proud of it.

That's the difference between US game retailers and Hezbollah. At least in the US, they try not to sell M rated games to minors. Hezbollah wants to spread their propaganda so they target kids because they're the easiet to influence.

Al Aradi is a liar.
Israel does NOT show anti-arab or anti-muslim propaganda films.

I'm an Israeli officer myself. I've been a part of the last war, and this game is indeed just a piece of propaganda. Call me bias - I am.

But unfortunatly, it is the way of the Muslim extrimist nations. Just watch the TV programing they have during the Ramadan month. It's filled with atrocious soap operas about Jews (not just Israelis, so don't believe Ahmadinajad saying that he isn't against Jews, just against Israel) eating children or executing their own or arabs by cutting them limb by limb. I've seen those movies. And this is something NO ONE in ANY Arab country can claim about Israel - cause there are NO such movies.

@Cypher

I don't think it's "anti-arab/muslim propaganda" per-se, but rather the impression that arabs are painted in a bad light in "western" films. See "black-guy-dies-first" myths. Or the "terrorists are always arab/eastern-european/asian".

Then again, I too have seen the "Jew soaps" you speak of, and yeah, for Al Aradi to whine about Israeli tv shows' portrayal of Arabs is pure irony...

And I don't think anyone would deny that Special Forces 2 is anything but propaganda. That seemed to be it's intention, to be a propaganda game promoting Hezbollah...

Is it a conspiracy that Firefox's dictionary says "Hezbollah" is spelled wrong, and that I should try spelling it "Ayatollah"? ;)

@Archgabe

Agreed.

In my book, this "game" goes right there alongside the piece of crap called Ethnic Cleansing.

I agree with Gameboy. You will do more with proper education than you could ever accomplish with banning anything. That is the problem I have with video game legislation and this is the problem I have with people calling for this game to be banned.

You cannot stifle free speech. Look at China and the problems they are having with it. It would do more for these people to do as Gameboy says and work to discredit the Hezbollah and their mission.

Free speech is a very good thing to have, but sometimes you just have to draw a line in the sand. I said the same thing when that Danish Newspaper published cartoons of Muhammed, and there is very little different about this.

where can you download this? I want to see how wrong this game is.

First of all the story is fake. Bahrain is used as the location for a zionist created and planted story (anyone can pretend to be muslim, and start an online petition) because the naive readers of sites like this will not know that Bahrain, far from being a muslim state, is entirely under the control of stooge forces working for British and US interests.

No decent Human could take any offense at a game designed around the premise of a poor nation defending itself against invasion by one of the most depraved, racist, and violent regimes the Earth has ever seen, the state of Israel.

What is interesting, of course, is how sites like GamePolitics take zero concern with the tens of thousands of game, film, book, and TV product that have the mass murder of muslims as their central theme. Computer wargames in particular almost exclusively focus on the genocide of muslim nations, if they have a contemporary setting. At the same time, Israel demands the genocide of Iran, after having actively supported the acts of genocide in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Israel, of course, also supplied nuclear weapons to South Africa, when South Africa was ruled by a vile Apartheid regime (that was a regime that declared in law that all black Humans were racially inferior to white humans). Israel was the strongest supporter of apartheid in South Africa.

What does it mean when a group can be attacked for making a game encouraging their people to believe that they can fight and obtain victory against an invader dedicated to the most obscene racist ideology? Self defense is a basic Human right.

The irony with Israel is because it believes its people are a "master-race" (ring any bells?), the victims of Israeli military aggression can defeat their racist enemy even if they suffer much greater losses. You see, Israel only likes war under the condition where thousands of muslim civilians are butchered for the loss of each Israeli 'soldier'. If the ratio of Israeli losses are forced higher (as with last year's Israeli war of aggression against Lebanon), the racist Israeli population considers that the cost is too high.

The wargames that are made in the West are DESIGNED to encourage the creation of aggressive wars- a form of warfare designated as the SUPREME CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY by the Nuremberg trials conducted at the end of WW2. British, American, European and Israeli financed wargames encourage the idea that powerful nations should use global violence as a standard tool of political power, and should have no guilt planning to use genocide as a means of resolving issues like who gets to control and consume the resources of this planet.

Meantime, wargames like this one out of Lebanon represent a pure desire for effective self-defense against enemies funded and armed to an extreme that is beyond belief (the US recently announced that they were giving Israel 30Billion dollars exclusively for the use on weapons of mass destruction). Germany gave two submarines to Israel for the purpose of carrying nuclear armed cruise missiles, nuclear missiles targetted at every major muslim population centre in the Middle East.

The recent 'friendly-fire' incident in Afghanistan killed teenagers serving in the UK forces there. How do you think the Israel supporting West gets kids into the army? The computer wargames produced by companies in the West are explicitly designed as recruiting tools for these kids. Weeks earlier in Afghanistan, US forces butchered an entire town meeting, declaring that because the majority of victims were males of 'military age' (ie., 8-80), that the murder of hundreds was a great thing. The parallel to the serbian act of genocide in Srebrenica, where Israeli backed serbian forces removed all military aged males from a town, and then executed them all, is exact.

Prior to, and during WW2, nazis objected to any media story that suggested that jews and others should be allowed to defend themselves against nazi aggression. At the same time, every effort was made in film, and book, and radio production to encourage support of the 'glorious' german war machine. Today, WE ARE THE NAZIS, and the world had better tremble, for unlike in the time of Hitler, there is no one that will be able to prevent this evil from hurting the entire Earth.

GamePolitics.com can be proud of inheriting the legacy of Goebbels, and doing its part to denigrate those that merely seek to defend themselves in the face of extraordinary military evil.

Davell... What's the first word in the name of GAMEpolitics? I even gave a little hint.

Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if this was fake, but was it really called for to go Jack Thompson and start comparing Dennis with Goebbels, I mean, seriously, you aren't doing yourself any favours.

Davell- I applaud a game the gives the false hope to the poor Muslims and causes them to rise in mass against the oppressors. It will just make it more justified when they are slaughtered!

My problem isn't with the political position between Israel and Palestine, I am nowhere near either state and am perfectly aware of the fact that we only get told what it is wanted for us to know, but nonetheless, he did, more than a little, shoot the messenger in this case, this isn't about GP's opinion on the Middle East, it is merely reporting the existence of the Poll, I think that to go all guns blazing about GP, purely for pinting the existence of this, is over the top to say the least.

...
And i tought games were for entertainment. Come on, games should be about playing, leave out politics out of them, unless they have awesome gameplay.

Problem is, I think the cycle of vengeance has to end. Everyone has a reason to be angry at the 'other guy', there's probably hardly a single person in the area who's life hasn't been affected in some way by what is going on there, be they Israeli or Palestinian. But as long as every attack is 'revenge' for the last one, by either side, this is going to continue ad-infinitum.

Thing is, having watched the 'John Rambo' trailer, where, once again, a mass of 'semi-identified' foreigners are slaughtered in the most gruesome way possible (far more gruesome, I might add, than most video games, at one point he rips out a mans larynx with his hands, and that's just the trailer), I think the Media industry in general suffers from this problem. Sensationalism isn't going to go away, simply because not only does the industry use it, but those who see themselves as on a mission against the Industry are equally wont to use Sensationalism and stereotype if it suits their purpose.

Check out the Rambo Trailer on YouTube if you like, but be aware, it's far more unpleasant viewing that a Video Game.

Guess there is one thing games teach us undeniably about ourselves (and hit yourself if you don't recognize this):

"War, war never changes."

@HandofCrom

Fallout reference! What do I win? ;P

But seriously, that quote is very true...and that gives me an idea!
One of us could could make a poster with the fallout guy and that quote, then make it freely available on the internet. People could download the file, print out copies of the poster, and put then up around their hometowns!

...but that's just me. :-)

@Sidewinder

I've never been a fan of banning speech, even hate speech, because it is only the symptom of a deeper problem. The deep problem is the long history of conflict in the region, and there is no easy solution. I am for allowing the game to be released, and even pressed to children, but I am also for those opposing its twisted message to confront its message, expose it, and try to spread a message of tolerance. When these symptoms are suppressed, they only fester, while if they are confronted and discredited, the we can start to fix the deeper causes. You don't snip off the growth of the weed and leave the roots to grow, you grab the growth and pull to get the roots out as well, or use the growth as a marker to dig out the roots and kill the weed for good.

To whom it may concern,
I am Jewish, and I live in Israel.

To the hypocrites above, who actually support this kind of game, now hear this:
Just Six years ago, nearly three-THOUSAND people lost their lives in less than 2.5 hours, when the two towers of what was the World Trade Center collapsed into concentrated concrete-ash and bended steel.

Let's say that the people who affiliate with Bin-Laden or some other group say, in Iraq - would have created a sweet-looking, highly popular, top-of-the-line computer game (and not those moronic flash based-crap they call games).

In that game, letting you actually board aircrafts from select U.S. soil airports, later on, while "in-flight" you'll actually be able to hijack the plane using which ever means you see fit - killing passengers, threats and what not.
Eventually - you'd be piloting and crashing the aircraft directly into the WTC over and over again, generating extra points if you actually hit it exactly on the spots of the original two aircraft that hit it six years ago, would that make you just a bit angry?

Give me a break! This entire talk-back thread would have been engulfed in flames if this article was about a game like the one I described.

Some of the people here have got alot of nerve trying to justify those kind of games.

Think about it.

futility,

Thanks for the grade-school history lesson. *head pat*

Filorux,

"It’s okay to concede that some things should not be allowed to be said. There is no need to feel like we are going soft on Free Speech – or losing ground in the fight to keep the content of our games free from censorship - by saying that some statements (gasp – even those made by games) are just not appropriate."

No. It's never OK to tell people what can, and cannot be said. You are certainly free to think/feel/say that certain subjects are not appropriate for yourself, and avoid them. But it's another thing altogether to want them to not be said. However, Free Speech is not a get-out-of-jail free card. Each person is responsible for his/her speech, and must accept the consequences of his/her speech.

If a person walks into a predominantly black neighborhood wearing a sign that says "Death to all (N-words)," then that person must accept the consequences of his/her intolerant speech (Die Hard III). If I (falsely) shout, "Fire," or, "Bomb," in a crowded building, I must accept the criminal penalty because my speech directly caused a riot.

I would argue that protecting speech I disagree with is more important than protecting speech I agree with. I think that this attitude is what separates the truly free, and the Jack Thompsons, CCFC's, and other people who want speech they disagree with to be banned.

Thanks Lumi, I'll take a look at that :)

Cypher, im on the side of peace, so im on both sides. But does winning a fight mean you can take someones land/homes? There is a saying, two wrongs don't make a right...and how often is a soldier on either side killing because someone on their side was killed they know not to have deserved death and not because of their belief in the rightness of their cause?

On the PEOPLES side, thats exactly what i meant. But im on everyone's side too, why? Because to put it simply, people are stupid. They have to be taught peace if all they've known is hate and all I see is young soldiers in the PLO on TV. They have to know why all people deserve life, or at least, don't deserve death. Words and ideas have to be spoken and disseminated by leaders to all of the people. You seem to be letting the actions of the violent Palestinians speak for the whole of the community.

Do i really believe that the Palestinians want peace? The people do, yes. Hamas leaders want power, but the young men and teenagers want fellowship and a sence of purpose and belonging, like the gang members of the Crips and the Bloods during the 90's. What i mean by two wrongs don't make a right is, how does bulldozing homes and taking further land ok? Are you going to give it back eventually? I just heard about a home being bulldozed the other day.... I understand your explanation of strategic depth, and it might be a good idea i admit, but are you going to give that land back? And perhaps more importantly, has Israel made it known to the people of Palestine that its going to be given back after Israel feels safe again? This tit for tat warfare shouldn't go on. If i were Israel's leader, peace talks would go on daily, whether or not i had an audience of Palestinian leadership. I would find a way to make it known to all of the Palestinians that peace was a paramount desire and the foremost goal for the sakes of both peoples.

People simply do the best they can with what they have physically and mentally, whether you like it or not. The Nazi party did the best they could with what they had; ...all they had was pride and hate. I think you'd agree with me that the modern Germans would not act the way their Nazi fathers and mothers acted. But what is the difference? Knowledge.

@ Cypher

What are we talking about?

I used to follow up on the coverage of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and seen where the bulldozing of the Palestinians homes in PALESTINE got so out of hand that a female American journalist was standing infront of an innocent Palestinian family home and the Israeli soldier was parked getting ready to bulldoze so evidently the soldier seen the American female and ran her over to smash the innocent Palestinians home. This does not surprise me after seeing how cowarly the Israeli soldiers would kill innocent children by shooting them in the head and killing cops when they invade Palestine to make a point by which they are making no point other than they want to keep the land and are willing to do any cowarly act to get there way for Israel.

Since you live in Israel, do you know if any of the Israeli soldiers was charged with these criminal acts just like with what happened to that American female that was trying to protect that house?

Michael, first of all, that was not an American journalist, she was an activist. You know, like all those bra burning females that have an itch to scratch....
And she wasn't standing in front of it. She ran to it when the dozing started.
That was back when we had a policy of buldozing houses of suicide bombers and their senders. By no means it was an innocent family.

But yes, the soldier was charged.

The officer who shot that little girl was also arrested. However, according to the investigation, he didn't shoot her in the head in close range as the news stated. They fired from a far because she presented a threat. It wasn't the first case of the Palestinians sending kids with bombs strapped on to their bodies.
Just a few months ago, or maybe a year, a 12 or 13 year old kid was sent - but he got so scared that he cried out for help and told our soldiers he was strapped with a bomb to his body. We took him, removed the explosives and sent him to the hospital.

I really do love when ignorant people, mostly kids, such as yourself get a strong opinion regarding a place they have NEVER visited, will never dare to come near to, only see bits and pieces of the stories once every few months while channel surfing and then call us cowards and claim to know everything there is to know about it.

“Hannah Says:
I don’t like either side of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Call me an antisemite if you want, but Israel’s foreign policy is overly aggressive, especially given the power of their allies and the moral high ground that they like to claim, and Palestine can’t seem to control individual terrorist groups. As such, I can’t really condemn one side more than the other for putting out propaganda, and in the interests of freedom of speech, I certainly cannot support censorship.
Hannah”

Well you are simply misinformed If nations with overwhelming military forces tried to exterminate you every other decade, what would your foreign policy look like?
Though I do agree that it is a little too aggressive when dealing with non-nations…
The elected governments of both parts of Palestine are terrorist organizations which can’t control themselves(well, they can, they just don’t want to)…and do nothing to try to control others. Since the PLO got beat up by hamas they have became a lot more tame though they are still terrorists…
While I do have great sympathy for innocent people in Palestine(not their murderous terrorist leadersip) Hezbollah has NOTHING to do with Palestine, in fact they recently wiped out a small Palestinian uprising themselves…
Hezbollah is a political party which controlled half of Lebanon and started a war over land that NEVER belong to lebannon, ask Syria who the land belongs to…IF you watch their TV then you will see Nazi re-runs of the glory days…as well as hezb equally disturbing programs… They have advertisements of hezb holding head of IDF soldier on childrens programs with the one holding the head saying you can be just like me to huge applause… am I for censorship YES I am against all things that tell you to hurt or kill someone. If this game is anything like hezb tv than it should definatly be banned in the whole world!!!

“Hannah
Although I doubt it will happen, I’d rather see the guys who made this petition create a game/mod from their own perspective — there are far too few games that show peace (or the potential for peace) in the Middle East, and I’d like to see that change
Hannah”

While I agree I doubt this game can be salvaged by anything other than a total conversion mod which would ofcourse by the same as banning the game...

Err... in what American game do you shoot women and children in Iraq?