NYU Law Student Defends Statement Blaming Israel for Hamas Attack: “I Will Not Be Silent!”

New York University (NYU) Law student Ryna Workman issued a statement on October 16 defending her statement blaming Israel for the October 7 Hamas terror attack and called for a national walkout.

As previously reported by the Journal, Workman, who uses they/them pronouns sent out a newsletter earlier in the month saying that that they have “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 wrote. “This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary. I will not condemn Palestinian resistance.” Workman was the law school’s Student Bar Association (SBA) president at that time. After facing widespread backlash to the statement, the law firm Winston & Strawn rescinded a job offer to Workman and the student has been reportedly relieved of her duties as the SBA president.

“I’ve been getting a lot of backlash for the message I sent to my fellow NYU Law students where I voiced my support for the human rights of Palestinians,” Workman’s statement read, per The Daily Mail. “My message came across as insensitive to the suffering of Israelis during a time of crisis and that is not what I intended. When I step back to think about the situation, I cannot reconcile the fact that some of the loudest calls for acknowledgement of Israeli pain are ignoring the loss of Palestinian children in Gaza. And I am frightened that the far-right Israeli government is using this pain to justify their campaign of ethnic cleansing.” Workman proceeded to advocate for students to do a national walkout “to force our institutions to end support for Israeli occupation.”

The Daily Mail also noted that Workman’s statement, which was posted to Instagram, featured the caption, “I will not be silent!”

Also on October 16, Workman told The Intercept, “What’s been driving me is the resilience of Palestinians in this moment. The fact that they are still using their voice, that they are still standing strong, that they are still here, and that they are asking us to continue to speak out and show up for them through this and to not let this be their end.” Workman vowed to “continue to speak out for them and ask for these demands of an immediate ceasefire and this provision of this humanitarian assistance in a safe, secure, and timely fashion to the people of Gaza.”

Palestine Legal posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the legal organization has “spoken to people being fired from their jobs for sharing social media posts or signing statements that support Palestinian human rights, including the revocation of our client Ryna Workman’s job offer from corporate law firm Winston & Strawn, LLP.”

We have spoken to people being fired from their jobs for sharing social media posts or signing statements that support Palestinian human rights, including the revocation of our client Ryna Workman’s job offer from corporate law firm Winston & Strawn, LLP. https://t.co/wacns6iGwh

— Palestine Legal (@pal_legal) October 24, 2023

The Washington Square News (WSN), NYU’s student newspaper, reported on Thursday that the entire SBA resigned following Workman’s statement, which the board members said was due to concerns of “ongoing threats to student safety” and not believing the law school would properly administer hearings to remove Workman from their position as SBA president. WSN also reportedly obtained email from NYU Law School Dean Troy McKenzie informing Workman that they are “relieved from all duties and privileges” of SBA president and to “cease all communications with the student body using the title of Student Bar Association President and should not identify yourself as a representative of the student community or NYU School of Law.” McKenzie declined to comment to WSN.

Workman told WSN that the SBA resignations were due to people being “punished for speaking out for Palestinian human rights, whether that be doxxing, harassing or actions taken by their educational institution” and claimed that “the harassment campaign against me has targeted all facets of my identity: the fact that I am Black, the fact that I am queer, the fact that I am nonbinary.” “Regardless of how terrible my week has been, this attention on one student’s email to their fellow law students is entirely misplaced and a dangerous distraction,” they said. “We must stay focused on what really matters, and that is doing all we can to prevent furthering the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”