Who is Ryna Workman? NYU law student president who blames Israel for war filmed defacing posters of Hamas hostages
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Ryna Workman, a New York University law student president who lost a job opportunity due to a controversial pro-Hamas message, is yet again facing backslash after a new video captured them covering up posters of Hamas hostages.
Workman, 24, identifies as non-binary and uses pronouns they/them.
The law student leader, in the university’s newsletter, called out Israel and wrote that the Jewish nation bears full responsibility for the ongoing war.
Ryna Workman was filmed defacing posters of Israeli hostages along with a friend
Workman was captured covering up posters of missing Israeli children and adults. Earlier, Workman was interviewed by ABC News on their stand.
They defended their stand and justified that speaking out was a way of standing up for “Palestinian human rights" and did not comment further on a question about having empathy for murdered Israelis during ongoing bloodshed.
“I will continue to use my voice to uplift the voices of Palestinians and the struggles they’re going through,” Workman said.
“I think whether or not my empathy goes to Israelis or to Palestinians is really not the question here. What the question is, is will we call for an end to this genocide and will we call for a cease-fire?,” Workman added.
The video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, notes that the law student ‘‘couldn’t even change" their clothes after appearing on the news show. It adds that Workman covered a poster from a construction scaffolding which looks mostly like Manhattan.
In the clip, Workman, along with a friend, can be seen covering up the hostages' posters with another one advertising for a “National Student Walkout” demanding a free Palestine.
Ryna Workman remained quiet when asked to mention name during defacing
The person capturing the video asked the two of them, “Do you guys wanna state your name? At least say your name. If you’re going to do it, do it with pride.”
To this, their friend responded, “I’m very proud, I just don’t want to talk to you.”
The 24-year-old, who hails from Simpsonville, South Carolina, during a news interview, declined to condemn the Palestine militant group that launched one of the most severe attacks on civilians with 2000 missiles followed by ground attacks on October 7, as per New York Post.
Ryna Workman wrote, "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 added, "Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life. This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary."
"I will not condemn Palestinian resistance," they further wrote, adding "violence of… apartheid, military occupation, the United States military industrial complex and obfuscating genocide as a complex issue," among other things.
