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A letter by Osama bin Laden published nearly two decades ago has resurfaced on the internet, tracing empathy from many – including young US Tiktok users.
Many young Americans posted videos on TikTok this week to express sympathy with the letter the Al Qaeda chief wrote to criticize the US support for Israel.
The letter resurfaced on the net as the US continues to vow unreserved, blind support for ISrael in its ongoing genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.
Many young US TikTokers have posted videos that have garnered millions of views and positive reactions, with the majority of commenters calling on other users to read the letter.
On Wednesday, however, the Guardian, which published a translated copy of the letter in 2002, removed it from its website.
The newspaper claimed it had chosen to remove the letter published 20 years ago on its website because it was being widely shared on social media without full context.
But many netizens had already printed and widely shared the letter on social media platforms before the newspaper removed it from its website.
The overwhelmingly positive response to the letter prompted TikTok’s frustration, with the platform censoring the videos mentioning, and lauding the letter.
TikTok has also aggressively taken down videos of US citizens, most of them teenagers, showing sympathy for Bin Laden.
In a statement on Thursday, the social platform said that the videos promoting the letter “violate” its rules against supporting any form of terrorism.
Some of the videos have been reposted on other social platforms, including X, formerly Twitter.
Read also: A Tale of Two Osamas: The Bin Laden Family Breaks 17 Years of Silence
One of the TikTok users said she cried after reading the letter.
“I saw an Instagram post about it telling me to read it.. I looked it up. Went to the Guardian and I found it. First thing I read . I read it out loud.. I cried,” the TikToker said.
The young TikToker then read the letter’s opening lines, in which bin Laden provided his reasons for orchestrating the 9/11 attack.
“The answer is very simple. Because you attacked us and continue to attack us. You attacked us in Palestine,” the letter reads, strongly criticizing the US support for Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
“It brings us both laughter and tears to see that you have not yet tired of repeating your fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine,” says the letter, condemning the military occupation of the Palestinian territories for over 80 years.
Bin Laden is now positively trending in America “due to people sharing their reaction to his letter,” one netizen commented on X, formerly Twitter.
“They were surprised by his statements that Jews control America and that they should be aware of sexual immorality and why he did… Seems like this next generation will have an entirely different view about Islam&Terrorism than those who preceded the due to the current events.”
This viral reposting of bin Laden’s letter comes on the heels of increasing popular discontent with Biden’s approach to the unfolding genocide in Gaza, with even Democrats-sympathizing young Americans denouncing the US president as too pro-Israel.
A recent report by the think tank Brookings Institution shows that Israel has considerably lost much of the notable popular support it gained in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel.
On Wednesday this week, US President Joe Biden stirred popular outrage for comments in which he appeared to both support and excuse Israel’s rejection of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Controversially, President Biden suggested that the Jewish state’s ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza is a self-defense war meant to prevent Hamas, the Gaza-ruling Palestinian militant group, from mounting another “terrorist” attack on Israel.
