Aftermath of Al Qa’eda’s bombing of Bali, Indonesia, in which 202 people were killed, October 2002

In a disturbing combination of social media and naivete — or cynical, click-bait manipulation — a series of TikTok videos have promoted Osama Bin Laden’s November 2002 “Letter to America” as an enlightened political critique of the US, the West, and “Jews”.

I join Times Radio’s Jo Crawford to provide the context for Bin Laden’s justification for the mass killing of civilians: before, during, and after 9-11 across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. This is not a “progressive” manifesto but a mix of distorted Islam, anti-Semitism, and a hatred of entire societies.