The United Nations International School in New York, known as UNIS, has opened an internal investigation after hate symbols, including swastikas, were discovered in middle school yearbooks. The incident has angered Jewish parents, who say it is the latest in a series of episodes that raise concerns about the school’s handling of antisemitism.
School president Lupe Todd-Medina said the administration is working to get to the bottom of what happened. “We are shocked by the hateful words found in the middle school yearbooks and unequivocally condemn identity-based harm,” she said. She added that once the matter became known, the school immediately confiscated the remaining yearbooks and launched a broad investigation, stressing that hate speech violates the school’s mission and that the matter will be treated with the utmost seriousness.
Israeli and Jewish parents at the school said they were skeptical of the response. Israeli diplomats whose children attend UNIS told Ynet that a school associated with the UN and presenting itself as a model of tolerance, equality and mutual respect should be fully transparent and directly address what happened. They said that when Nazi symbols or antisemitic messages are involved, it is not enough to speak generally about “identity-based harm,” but to explain how the incident occurred, who was responsible and what punishment was imposed. One parent said, “We are not surprised by anything anymore,” arguing that such cases can no longer be treated as isolated mishaps but as part of a broader problem requiring deeper review.
The controversy comes amid a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Nadine Sabag, a Jewish French teacher who worked at the school for three decades. She alleges that the workplace became hostile to Jews and Israelis and that administrators failed to properly address complaints of antisemitism and harassment. The suit says one teacher allegedly claimed Jews were motivated only by money and controlled the school and all of New York, while another Israeli teacher was confronted with accusations about Israel after a colleague showed her apparent AI-generated images of Israeli soldiers shooting children. It also alleges that a “Walls of Peace” project included materials with barcodes leading to pro-Hamas organizations, and that students involved were not punished. UNIS rejected the claims, saying it strongly stands against “baseless allegations,” and said the matter will be handled in the ongoing legal process.
