Graphic pro-Israel ads make their way into children’s video games

investing.com:

By Raphael Satter, Katie Paul and Sheila Dang

(Reuters) — Maria Julia Assis was sitting down to a meal in her terraced home in north London when her 6-year-old son ran into the dining room, his face pale.

    The puzzle game on his Android phone had been interrupted by a video showing Hamas militants, terrified Israeli families and blurred graphic footage. Over a black screen, a message from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the first grader: «WE WILL MAKE SURE THAT THOSE WHO HARM US PAY A HEAVY PRICE.»

    Assis, a 28-year-old barista from Brazil, said that the ad left her son shaken and she quickly deleted the game.

    «He was shocked,» she said in a telephone interview last week. «He literally said, 'What is this bloody ad doing in my game?'»

Reuters has not been able to establish how the ad came to her son's video game, but her family isn't alone. The news agency has documented at least five other cases across Europe where the same pro-Israel video, which carried footage of rocket attacks, a fiery explosion, and masked gunmen, was shown to gamers, including several children.

    In at least one case, the ads were played inside the popular «Angry Birds» game made by SEGA-owned developer Rovio.

Rovio confirmed that «somehow these ads with disturbing content have in error made it through to our game» and were now being blocked manually. Spokesperson Lotta Backlund did not provide details on which of its «dozen or so ad partners» had supplied it with the ad.

    Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs' head of digital, David Saranga, confirmed that the video was a government-promoted ad but said he had «no idea» how it ended up inside various games.

    He said the footage was part of a larger advocacy drive