Student Sees Swift Fallout After Condemning Israel

The fallout continues for those criticizing Israel's role in violence that has killed 2,500 people since Saturday. A law firm has rescinded a job offer to the president of New York University's Student Bar Association after the law student claimed "Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life" that began over the weekend with Hamas' surprise attack on the country. In an SBA newsletter shared Tuesday, Ryna Workman wrote that Israel's "regime of state-sanctioned violence" against the Palestinian people "created the conditions that made resistance necessary," per the New York Times. "I will not condemn Palestinian resistance," added Workman.

Within hours, NYU Law School Dean Troy McKenzie issued a statement saying the message did not speak for the law school or its leadership, while Winston & Strawn, one of the largest and oldest law firms in Chicago, announced it would rescind its job offer to the unnamed student whose "inflammatory comments ... profoundly conflict" with its values. "Winston stands in solidarity with Israel's right to exist in peace and condemns Hamas and the violence and destruction it has ignited in the strongest terms possible," it said, per Bloomberg Law, adding it continues to work "to eradicate anti-Semitism in all forms." Workman worked as a summer associate in the law firm's New York office, according to a now-deleted LinkedIn page.

More fallout was apparent by Tuesday evening as the SBA began the process of removing Workman as president by circulating a "vote of no confidence" survey, per the Times. The group said Workman's message, which had not been reviewed by group members before it was published, had triggered outrage to that point that "multiple students have received significant targeted harassment and death threats." This is just one high-profile case of individuals facing backlash for their responses to the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip. Some CEOs have vowed not to hire Harvard students affiliated with a letter that similarly blamed Israel "for all unfolding violence." (More New York University stories.)