Iranian student group releases anti-Israel computer games

Government back group produced games to celebrate al-Quds day; Iranian chief of staff: Teheran could strike "Israeli nuclear site" if attacked.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
ahmadinejad 311 (photo credit: Amir Kholousi\AP)
ahmadinejad 311
(photo credit: Amir Kholousi\AP)
A government-backed Iranian student group released two anti-Israeli computer games, “Devil Den 2” and “Freedom Convoy,” to commemorate the last Friday of Ramadan, referred to by Shi’ites as al-Quds Day.
Both games were produced by the School Students Basij Organization, which is affiliated with Iran’s Education Ministry.
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Devil Den 2 is about “the Israeli protocols,” the director of the organization, Muhammad Saleh Jokar, said during a ceremony announcing the release of the two games on Thursday, the eve of Quds Day.
“The illegitimate regime has said in its protocols that they will abolish all beliefs,” Jokar was quoted as saying by the Iranian Mehr News Agency.
“We have witnessed that the foundations of the illegitimate Zionist regime have been weakened and our younger generation must be familiarized with the protocols and the inhuman ideology of the regime,” he added.
The second game, Freedom Convoy, is based on the Israel Navy’s May 31 raid on the Mavi Marmara. Jokar described the maneuver, part of an Israeli effort to prevent ships from breaking the blockade of the Gaza Strip, as an Israeli attack, referring to the six foreign vessels as the “Freedom Flotilla.”
A number of Iranian military commanders, including Basij (volunteer forces) Commander Brig.-Gen. Muhammad Reza Naqdi and the deputy commander of the Armed Forces Headquarters, Masud Jazayeri, attended the ceremony.
“The downfall of oppressors is carried out by God...In the most pessimistic view, there will be no trace of the Zionist regime in 15 years,” Naqdi was quoted by Mehr as saying during the ceremony.
The “Zionist regime’s” place in history will be similar to those of the former Soviet regime and South Africa’s apartheid government, Naqdi added.
Jazayeri said that the games have been produced as an alternative for users who are being flooded with games manufactured by the US and Israel. He typified computer games as “soft weapons” – nonviolent measures used to change the population’s point of view – and said the US and Israel were using soft weapons against Iran alongside the “hard weapons” at their disposal.
According to the report, Iran plans to produce six additional sequels to “Devil Den.” The first installment in the series was released in 2009.
Many copies of the two new games were distributed free of charge to demonstrators participating in the al- Quds Day rally in Teheran.
Also at the rally, Iran’s military chief of staff said Teheran could strike Israel’s alleged nuclear facility if the Jewish state were to attack Iran’s nuclear sites.
Gen. Hasan Firouzabadi said Iran hopes there won’t “be a need to target the nuclear facility of the Zionist regime,” but if there is, Israel would receive “dreadful retribution.”
The rally is often used by Iranian officials to issue threats against Israel.
AP contributed to this report.