Apple's iPhone App Builds On The Success Of Violent Arab Anti-Israel Videos

First there were the anti-Israel video games produced in the Arab countries.

In 2003, Hezbollah came out with a video game where you win points for killing Israelis:

The introduction is an exploding Israeli tank. A row of burning Israeli flags marks time while the computer loads a ''training session'' in which shooting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's electronic forehead on a target is worth 10 points.


''Victory comes from no one but Allah,'' exhorts the screen before the mission begins.

The hottest video game for the teenagers of Beirut's southern Shiite neighborhoods is ''Special Force,'' a creation of Hezbollah, the strongly anti-Israel militant organization that is on the United States' terror list.

Not surprisingly, 4 years later, Hezbollah came up with a sequel: Special Force 2--based on the Israel-Hezbollah war:

Raid Israel to capture soldiers, battle tanks in the valleys of southern Lebanon and launch Katyusha rockets at Israeli towns -- a new Hezbollah computer game puts players on the frontline of war with the Jewish state.

Some 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon in last year's conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

"Special Force 2" is based on last year's 34-day conflict between the Lebanese guerrilla group and Israel.

"This game presents the culture of the resistance to children: that occupation must be resisted and that land and the nation must be guarded," Hezbollah media official Sheikh Ali Daher said.

...Designed by Hezbollah computer experts, players of "Special Force 2" take the role of a Hezbollah fighter, or Mujahid. Weapons and points are accumulated by killing Israeli soldiers.

And Hezbollah is not alone

GamesLatest, which publishes news about video games came out with two articles on the history of video games development in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan--a number of which are based on Arab conflicts with Israel:

• 2D arcade games Stone Throwers (released in 2001) and War73 (1991), inspired by the Arab-Israeli conflict and developed by Syrian individuals
  
• 3D FPS games UnderAsh (2002) and UnderAsh II (aka UnderSige) (2004), also inspired by the Arab-Israeli conflict and developed by the Syria-based Afkar Media
  
• RTS game Quraish (2005), inspired by conquest wars of the early Islamic periods and developed by the Syria-based Afkar Media
  
• Lara Croft inspired adventure game Zoya: A warrior from Palmyra, developed by the Syria-based Techniat3D (closed down in 2003)
  
• 3D FPS games Special Force (2003) and Special Force 2: Tale of the Truthful Pledge (2007), based on the Hezbollah military operations against Israeli forces and developed by a Lebanese studio
  
• 3D FPS game Jenin: Road of Heroes, also based on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and published by Turath in Jordan

And let's not forget that in the US, Comedy Central also came out with it's own anti-Israel game:

Question: What do Comedy Central and the Palestinian Authority have in common?Answer: Children’s programming designed to indoctrinate the masses into believing that Israel is a baby-killing, immoral machine.

...The game appearing on the Comedy Central website is called "I.S.R.A.E.L. Attack!" It begins with a character stating, “You lied to me, Jew Producer” for the “Jew Producer’s” failure to kill child-like cartoons. Instead, a robot named the Intelligent Smart Robot Animation Eraser Lady, aka, “Israel,” is then sent to complete the job.

These must have been popular, because now Apple has come out with an app, which though not a video game, seems to have a similar theme as the Arab games--only more practical:

Israeli officials were up in arms Monday after Apple cleared for release into the iPhone App Store an application that encourages violent uprising against Israel, and advocates violence against “settlers,” generally defined by Arab anti-Israel groups as all residents of Israel.

Called “The Third Intifada,” the Arabic-language app features articles and stories by radical Arab members of Fatah and Hamas, as well as members of the Palestinian Authority. They discuss strategies to use in fighting IDF soldiers, and glorify acts of violence that have already taken place.

The app also features photos and images of Arab youths throwing stones and bombs at Israelis, and a collection of “intifada music” popular in the PA. In addition, it has a social media component, designed to allow activists to organize “flash mobs” on the go, gathering quickly at specific times and places to attack Israelis.

So, taking it to the next level, you no longer have to only vicariously feel the exhilaration of destroying Israel--now, thanks to Apple, you get work with others to help get the job done.

Apple once again has pushed the envelope, this time using Social Media to promote the most anti-social and vicious behavior.

The number to call Apple to complain is 877-388-0879.

Let's see if Apple has the good sense to remove this app.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Intifada and Nakba and Terrorism.