In a recent surge of terror attacks by Hamas on Israel, over 1,200 Israelis and at least 25 Americans have lost their lives, with thousands more injured.
The attacks have also seen over 95 families receiving the devastating news that their loved ones, including infants and disabled relatives, have been taken hostage, with reports of rape and other war crimes emerging.
Ryna Workman, the president of the New York University Student Bar Association, who identifies as non-binary and uses "they/them" pronouns, has controversially equated this violence to "resistance" and placed the blame squarely on Israel. Workman's stance, which aligns with other left-leaning students supporting Hamas, has led to significant consequences.
As previously reported by TheBlaze, Workman lost a lucrative position at a prominent law firm following revelations that they had described the terrorism inflicted by Hamas on civilians as "necessary."
On Wednesday, the NYU Student Bar Association took steps to remove Workman from their position.
Earlier this week, Workman released a statement in their role as SBA president, stating, "This week, I want to express, first and foremost, my unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression toward liberation and self-determination. Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life."
Workman further stated, "This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary. I will not condemn Palestinian resistance. Instead ... I condemn the violence of apartheid. I condemn the violence of settler colonialism. I condemn the violence of military occupation." They concluded with the assertion, "Palestine will be free."
Workman had previously been a summer associate at Winson & Strawn LLP, a 170-year-old firm based in Chicago with offices in New York City and other global locations. Workman was expected to earn a substantial income at the firm as a lawyer. However, following the release of Workman's pro-terror statement, the firm rescinded their offer of employment.
The firm issued a statement on Tuesday, saying, "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. These comments are profoundly in conflict with Winston & Strawn's values as a firm."
In response to the significant backlash over their student president's apparent endorsement of terrorism, the NYU SBA issued a statement on Wednesday, as reported by the New York Post, clarifying that Workman had been expressing personal views.
The SBA statement read, "Earlier today, the SBA President published a statement about the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine as part of the weekly bulletin email. The remaining members of SBA are writing to clarify that we did not write, approve, or see this message before it was published. SBA did not hold discussions about whether to issue a public statement about the conflict or the content of any potential statement."
The SBA also announced that they had voted to initiate the removal of Workman as president, with a hearing scheduled for October 17 and 24 as part of the removal procedures.
Despite acknowledging the "tremendous loss of human life in the past several days," the SBA did not condemn Hamas' attacks on civilians.
However, Troy McKenzie, the dean of the law school, and David Tanner, the chair of the NYU law board of trustees, issued a separate statement "unequivocally condemn[ing] the recent terrorist acts and the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas in Israel," adding that "any statement that does not recognize this brutality does not reflect the values of NYU Law."
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