Top law firm rescinds job offers to students over Israel statements

The U.S. law firm Davis Polk informed employees that it had rescinded job offers for three students of Harvard and Columbia Law schools whom it believed were connected to unspecified statements about Israel.

The internal Davis Polk email did not identify the students, nor did it identify the specific statements to which they gave their support.

"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," it read, according to NBC. "At this time, we remain in dialogue with two of these students to ensure that any further color being offered to us by these students is considered."

The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee earlier this month published a statement saying they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." Thirty-three other Harvard student groups signed on to the letter. That statement attracted considerable public scrutiny and prompted Harvard President Claudine Gay to publish her own statement distancing the school from the student letter.

"As the events of recent days continue to reverberate, let there be no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one’s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region," she said. "Let me also state, on this matter as on others, that while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.