Safety concerns for thee, but not for me: Media paints canceled USC speaker as victim, downplays safety concerns Jewish students have reported for months
April 30, 2024
Controversy has been brewing since the University of Southern California announced that student Asna Tabassum will no longer give the valedictorian’s speech at commencement.
The university said that the speech was canceled because of safety concerns, but the widespread takeaway is that she has made statements in support of Palestine, and therefore, her speech should not be allowed. But what she has posted on social media does not just support Palestine — it tips right into the antisemitism AIM has seen on campuses across the country.
Tabassum’s Instagram bio contains a link that calls for “the complete abolition of Israel” and calls Zionism a “racist settler-colonial ideology.”
She said she is “not apologetic” for the views she has expressed online, and told CNN as much.
CNN host Abby Phillip asked about one of the links Tabassum posted, saying that it “called for the complete abolishment of Israel.
“Abolishment of Israel was in the actual language. Is that something you endorse?”
Tabassum said, “The abolishment of the state of Israel, I’d like to clarify, is the abolishment of an apartheid system. It inherently is a system that subjugates Palestinians as dehumanized. And it subjugates Palestinian life as not worth the same as other human life.”
Several major news outlets have, in straight news articles, said Tabassum’s posts had been “mischaracterized,” and dismissed the criticism as being from “pro-Israel groups,” as if they were fringe groups and not the very people that have repeatedly reported feeling threatened on the USC campus.
The Guardian ran an article headlined, “USC vetoed a Muslim student’s graduation speech for her pro-Palestinian views. Why?
“One answer is because her pro-Palestinian views stepped over that line into antisemitism,” according to the article’s subhead.
But this is the very article that called her views “mischaracterized,” using an opinion piece as their source from a Guardian writer who has written multiple pieces supporting Palestine.
Tabassum has repeatedly called for “abolishing Israel.” USC’s Jewish graduates have the right not to be subjected to antisemitism at their commencement speech. pic.twitter.com/MJwSghXSFY
— 🎗️🥁 🇺🇦 🇮🇱Catherine Calls Out Antisemitism (@CMargaronis) April 17, 2024
However, the claimed reason for the cancellation by USC is that if she does speak then they cannot guarantee safety and security. And, well, how many speeches by people have been canceled because the college cannot guarantee safety and security? There’s not exactly a shortage of people who have been driven off campus by shrieking mobs now, is there?
Security and safety on campus is a problem, as Jewish USC students have said over and over.
“USC President Carol Folt has failed to hold Tabassum accountable, just as she failed to hold other antisemitic students and faculty accountable for their actions,” AIM President Adam Guillette said.
What these articles are really complaining about is that those safety and security concerns have resulted in someone they agree with, or at minimum are willing to downplay controversy to support.