Prestigious New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell rescinded job offers it had previously made to three Ivy League students after the students signed letters publicly supporting Hamas’s brutal attacks against Israel.
The firm’s decision mirrors the one made by Chicago-based law firm Winston & Strawn LLP last week — Winston & Strawn rescinded a New York University law student’s offer of employment after she emailed in a school newsletter that Hamas’s murderous spree was “necessary.”
“These statements are simply contrary to our firm’s values and we thus concluded that rescinding these offers was appropriate in upholding our responsibility to provide a safe and inclusive work environment for all Davis Polk employees,” Davis Polk managing partner Neil Barr said in an email.
“To ensure we continue to maintain a supportive and inclusive work environment, the student leaders responsible for signing on to these statements are no longer welcome in our firm; and their offers of employment have thus been rescinded,” the company continued in a statement.
Although Davis Polk did not identify the students by name, it said that the three attended Harvard and Columbia universities. Last week, 31 of Harvard’s student organizations signed a letter blaming Israel for “unfolding violence.” Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine praised Hamas’s “historic” ambush, and students at schools such as Princeton University, Northwestern University, and Georgetown University have also celebrated Hamas’s slaughter of Israelis.
American employers have so far responded firmly to students who sympathize with terrorists. Michael Broukhim, the co-founder of FabFitFun, said on October 12, “Discriminating against terrorist supporters is the most comically easy decision I’ll ever have to make as a CEO.” U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Matthew Solomson said last week that, “anyone who endorses or approves or otherwise gives comfort to Hamas, should not be hired.” Jonathan Neman, CEO of Sweetgreen, said he wanted the names of students who issued Harvard’s pro-Hamas letter, “so I know never to hire these people.”
The students who haven’t scrubbed their affiliations with pro-Palestinian organizations from the internet have defended their anti-Israel statements. NYU law students rallied behind Ryna Workman, the student whose job offer was rescinded, claiming that the firm’s decision was “violence.” The same students decried NYU this week for putting “people of color and marginalized communities on campus” in danger, “for not protecting Ryna as a student and important member of our community.”
Professors have also joined in on protesting Israel. A Cornell University professor called Hamas’s ambush “exhilarating,” and a George Washington University professor glorified Hamas terrorists as “martyrs.”