This Anchor Asked USC’s Valedictorian If She Endorses Completely Abolishing Israel And Her Answer Was Iconic
Asna Tabassum said she stands “for human rights, for equality and unequivocal and unconditional right to life for all people, including Palestinians.”
Asna Tabassum, the Muslim woman valedictorian for the University of Southern California whose speech was canceled, was asked in an interview on CNN if she endorses the abolishment of Israel, and her answer was iconic.
Tabassum, who majored in biomedical engineering with a minor in Resistance to Genocide, was supposed to deliver the commencement address at USC on May 10, but the university canceled her speech after she faced criticism for showing her support for Palestine on social media.
Tabassum was accused of being anti-semitic because she had liked Instagram posts from a student group supporting Palestine.
Another student group supporting Israel then called for her to be removed because her Instagram bio links to a page that says “learn about what’s happening in Palestine and how to help”.
The group said that the website linked to a page that called Zionism a “racist settler-colonial ideology” and called for the “complete abolishment of the state of Israel”.
The university’s decision sparked a controversy, and students held protests on campus to show their support for Tabassum.
Tabassum then appeared on CNN in an interview with anchor Abby Phillips, who asked her if she supports the complete abolishment of Israel.
Tabassum replied that she stands “for human rights, for equality and unequivocal and unconditional right to life for all people, including Palestinians.”
She then added that “the abolishment of the state of Israel is the “abolishment of an apartheid system,” which “subjugates Palestinians as dehumanized and Palestinian life as not worth the same as other human life.”
When Phillips pushed for a yes or no answer, Tabassum said that a yes or no would be “an injustice to the issue.”
“I think that any sort of ideological debate or any sort of academic discourse is worth clarification and worth discussion,” she added.
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