Amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, support for the late jihadist’s explanations for his attacks on America has been seen on TikTok.
Osama Bin Laden’s anti-Jewish letter defending terrorism against Americans has gained resonance on social media and captivated the minds of pro-Palestinian activists within the Israel-Hamas conflict, over two decades after the assaults that sparked the US “War on Terror.”
On TikTok, videos with the hashtag “LettertoAmerica” have received over 13.5 million views. The trend appears to have started on Tuesday with a post by Lynette Adkins. “It’s only two pages, so I need everyone to stop what they’re doing and go read ‘A Letter to America,'” she declared. “And I feel like I’m going through, like, an existential crisis right now, and a lot of people are, so I just need someone else to be feeling this, too. Please come back here and just let me know what you think.”
The recently uncovered letter, which is more than 20 years old, caused other people to respond similarly. In reference to the letter, another TikTok user asserting that they were going through a “existential crisis” stated, “I will never look at life the same; I will never look at this country the same.”
In response, US Senator Marco Rubio said in a post on X (previously Twitter) that the responses demonstrate sympathy for terrorism and that “America deserved to be attacked on 9/11” and that “terrorism is a legitimate method of resistance against ‘oppression.”
In the 2002 letter, Bin Laden claimed that Jews controlled American policy, money, and media and denounced the US for supporting Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. He addressed the letter “to the American people.” “It is a crime that needs to be forgotten that Israel was created,” he wrote. “Every individual whose hands have been tainted by their involvement in this crime must pay the price—and pay it dearly.”
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The US has paid a high price for its War on Terror twenty years after 9/11.
The founder of Al-Qaeda continued by demanding that Palestinian blood be avenged. According to Bin Laden, “the oppressed have a right to return the aggression because it is commanded by our religion and intellect.” “You should expect only jihad, resistance, and retribution from us. Is it reasonable to assume that we will abandon her to live in safety and peace after America has assaulted us for more than 50 years?
A copy of the letter was published by the UK’s Guardian newspaper after it was originally published in English in November of 2002. The document was removed by the outlet on Wednesday. The Guardian withdrew the letter because it was being extensively circulated on social media “without the full context,” a spokeswoman for the publication told Fox News. There is now a link on the page to a contextualised article.
Adkins, the social media user who shared the letter on Tuesday, links to a website that raises money for “Palestinian rights” on her TikTok page. The website claims that the Palestinians in Gaza are “living through genocide as Israel bombs, starves, and displaces them” and demands an end to West Jerusalem’s conflict with Hamas.
