The president of New York University's Student Bar Association lost a job offer at a law firm after putting out a statement that expressed solidarity with Palestinians in the aftermath of the Hamas militant group's unprovoked attack on Israel.
More than 1,000 Israelis were slaughtered, raped or kidnapped after Hamas broke through the country's southern border barrier on Saturday. While the prevailing sentiment in the Western world has been support for the Jewish state, some, especially on college campuses, blamed Israel for the bloodshed, including Ryna Workman.
"I want to express, first and foremost, my unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression towards liberation and self-determination," Workman wrote in the group's weekly message.
"Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life," the statement continued. "This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary. I will not condemn Palestinian resistance."
Instead, Workman went on to condemn the "violence of … apartheid, military occupation, the United States military industrial complex and obfuscating genocide as a 'complex issue,' " among a litany of other things.
"Palestine will be free," Workman concluded.
The law firm where Workman had interned as a summer associate learned of her incendiary message a few hours after it was publicized and decided to rescind its offer to join full-time after graduation.
"Today, Winston & Strawn learned that a former summer associate published certain inflammatory comments regarding Hamas' recent terrorist attack on Israel and distributed it to the NYU Student Bar Association," the firm said in a statement, according to Mediaite. "These comments profoundly conflict with Winston & Strawn's values as a firm. Accordingly, the Firm has rescinded the law student's offer of employment."
"We look forward to continuing to work together to eradicate anti-Semitism in all forms and to the day when hatred, bigotry, and violence against all people have been eliminated," it added.
Israel officially declared war on Sunday and has been pounding the Gaza Strip in retaliatory air strikes since.
Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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