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TikTok Bin Laden Craze Shows Facts Are Not Important, and Jew-Hating Is Cool
Osama bin Laden sits with his adviser Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian linked to the al Qaeda network, during an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir (not pictured) in an image supplied by Dawn newspaper November 10, 2001. Hamid Mir/Editor/Ausaf Newspaper for Daily Dawn/Handout via REUTERS
It should not come as a surprise that many young people posted Osama Bin Laden’s “Letter To America” on TikTok and praised him.
The first reason is that on social media, people are rewarded by posting things that are controversial. Facts and morality don’t matter. Second, the entire American educational system, especially colleges, don’t teach the truth about the September 11 attacks and the anti-Western and jihadist mentality that fueled them.
If one simply uses Google to do some research for five minutes, it is clear that Osama Bin Laden was furious that American troops defended Saudi Arabia. He issued a fatwa, or edict, against America in 1996, literally called “Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places.” Israel was not a focus.
If his primary problem was with Israel, one would have thought he would try to attack there. Instead, his attacks were on American embassies in East Africa in 1998, the USS Cole in Yemen, and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and one other target that was missed when passengers overtook United Flight 93 on that Tuesday morning.
Almost all Americans used to be united against Bin Laden.
But now, as it has become cool and “sophisticated” to justify terrorism, antisemitism, and hate in America — and because professors teach hateful and false narratives with no repercussions — we should not be surprised to see this hatred spread online.
It’s good to question things. But when young people believe there is no such thing as facts, it’s a problem. Without such a foundation, everything crumbles. Many today are useful idiots that justify evil. In an America where young people are taught to view all police officers as evil, and American soldiers as evil, this is a logical next step.
Many of those who posted about Bin Laden’s letter in a positive way will most assuredly say they are being silenced. But the opposite is happening.
Many people and organizations on social media profit more from lies than they do from the truth. This is why many podcasts feature various conspiracies that have no factual support. The idea that people know the “real” truth, and that the conventional wisdom is wrong, is quite attractive to people.
We live in an age where no one does any research or independently verifies facts. We live in an age where young people no longer possess critical thinking skills — the ability to analyze competing information, and decide what they think is more accurate.
We live in a world where people are posting that the Hamas attack of October 7 was a lie, despite video evidence filmed by Hamas terrorists themselves. And it’s more than TikTok. On Instagram, there is a video claiming that the world misses Saddam Hussein, the brutal Iraqi dictator who used chemical weapons against his own people.
There is also a failure of parents not educating their children, but many also have no idea what their children are posting. Young people are addicted to social media. Parents are often ambivalent or helpless to stop it.
Many of the people spreading hate online use the phrase “my truth,” and end the inquiry at that.
I’d like to see a bank robber tell a judge “my truth is that I didn’t rob the bank.” It wouldn’t work — or would it? It’s hard to tell, but most of these bank robbers would still go to jail.
Yet for some reason, it is acceptable for people to use the phrase “my truth” when vilifying Israel, America, and many other things. They should change it to, “my lie.”
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post TikTok Bin Laden Craze Shows Facts Are Not Important, and Jew-Hating Is Cool first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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FBI Investigating ‘Targeted Terror Attack’ in Boulder, Colorado, Director Says
FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Trump’s proposed budget request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sunday the agency was aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado.
While he did not provide further details, Patel said in a social media post: “Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available.”
According to CBS News, which cited witnesses at the scene, a suspect attacked people with Molotov cocktails who were participating in a walk to remember the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.
The Boulder Police Department said it was responding to a report of an attack in the city involving several victims. It has not released further details but a press conference was expected at 4 p.m. Mountain Time (2200 GMT).
The attack comes just weeks after a Chicago-born man was arrested in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C. Someone opened fire on a group of people leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights antisemitism and supports Israel.
The shooting fueled polarization in the United States over the war in Gaza between supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
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Terrorist Responsible for Death of 21 Soldiers Eliminated
An Israeli F-35I “Adir” fighter jet. Photo: IDF
i24 News – Khalil Abd al-Nasser Mohammed Khatib, the terrorist who commanded the terrorist cell that killed 21 soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip on January 22, 2024, was killed by an Israeli airstrike, the IDF said on Sunday.
In a joint operation between the military and the Shin Bet security agency, the terrorist was spotted in a reconnaissance mission. The troops called up an aircraft to target him, and he was eliminated.
Khatib planned and took part in many other terrorist plots against Israeli soldiers.
i24NEWS’ Hebrew channel interviewed Dor Almog, the sole survivor of the mass casualty disaster, who was informed on live TV about the death of the commander responsible for the killing his brothers-in-arms.
“I was sure this day would come – I was a soldier and I know what happens at the end,” said Almog. “The IDF will do everything to bring back the abductees and to topple Hamas, to the last one man.”
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Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81
FILE PHOTO: Vice Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve System Stanley Fischer arrives to hear Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney delivering the Michel Camdessus Central Banking Lecture at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, U.S., September 18, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
Stanley Fischer, who helped shape modern economic theory during a career that included heading the Bank of Israel and serving as vice chair of the US Federal Reserve, has died at the age of 81.
The Bank of Israel said he died on Saturday night but did not give a cause of death. Fischer was born in Zambia and had dual US-Israeli citizenship.
As an academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fischer trained many of the people who went on to be top central bankers, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as well as Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank president.
Fischer served as chief economist at the World Bank, and first deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund during the Asian financial crisis and was then vice chairman at Citigroup from 2002 to 2005.
During an eight-year stint as Israel’s central bank chief from 2005-2013, Fischer helped the country weather the 2008 global financial crisis with minimal economic damage, elevating Israel’s economy on the global stage, while creating a monetary policy committee to decide on interest rates like in other advanced economies.
He was vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017 and served as a director at Bank Hapoalim in 2020 and 2021.
Current Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron praised Fischer’s contribution to the Bank of Israel and to advancing Israel’s economy as “truly significant.”
The soft-spoken Fischer – who played a role in Israel’s economic stabilization plan in 1985 during a period of hyperinflation – was chosen by then Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as central bank chief.
Netanyahu, now prime minister, called Fischer a “great Zionist” for leaving the United States and moving to Israel to take on the top job at Israel’s central bank.
“He was an outstanding economist. In the framework of his role as governor, he greatly contributed to the Israeli economy, especially to the return of stability during the global economic crisis,” Netanyahu said, adding that Stanley – as he was known in Israel – proudly represented Israel and its economy worldwide.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also paid tribute.
“He played a huge role in strengthening Israel’s economy, its remarkable resilience, and its strong reputation around the world,” Herzog said. “He was a world-class professional, a man of integrity, with a heart of gold. A true lover of peace.”
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