Last week, a high-profile law firm in the United States announced that it had rescinded job offers made to potential interns who had expressed support for Israel in an open letter released last fall that was critical of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The repentant step was taken by Philadelphia-based Drinker Biddle & Reath, a firm with uniformly liberal affiliations among its attorneys. An investigation founded that, after receiving the letter, the firm revoked offers to two interns coming from HarvardUniversity, triggering a reprimand on social media.
The open letter in question had been released in November 2019 by Harvard’s Justice For Palestine Task Force. It condemned BDS, which seeks to apply pressure on Israel over its treatment of Palestinians and it called for “the full rights and inclusion of Jewish people around the world,” reported The Harvard Crimson.
The original letter was signed by 119 Harvard students, but at least eight students in the original group eventually withdrew their signatures from the document. The furore generated by BDS was clear from the speed at which the debate unfolded.
At the time, Drinker Biddle & Reath’s response was quite firm. A statement was released equivocating over the issue, saying that the firm, “does not believe… students should be denied employment opportunities due to their support of any position taken on a deeply divisive political issue.”
That same statement also promised to resolutely administer a non-partisan elucidation of the conflict, whilst at the same time affirming that the company was unwilling to get swayed by the tide of opinion and politically charged rhetoric.
However, given the current state of affairs, and that many pro-Israel activists across the U.S. had already voiced criticism at the time, the reaffirmation of its stance against the gradual eroding of free speech, led the firm to declared it had swiftly retracted its offer to the interns who had signed the Justice For Palestine letter.
At the moment of its reversal, the company issued yet another statement, apologizing for their initial response to the circmstance and expressed support for peaceful discourse regardless of viewpoint.
As to be expected, further arguments and responses continue to ensue and have kept the issue at the focal point of our nation’s political discourse. However, perhaps the most important lesson Drinker Biddle & Reath has taught companies across the United States, is the importance of feeling empathy with an opinion, without succumbing to the storms of it.