
UN-Affiliated NYC School Accused of Ignoring Anti-Semitic Abuse, Targeting Jewish Teacher Instead
An elite Manhattan school tied to the United Nations is accused of brushing aside repeated reports of anti-Semitic harassment from a longtime Jewish faculty member – while launching a prolonged investigation into the teacher herself, according to a new lawsuit shared with the Washington Free Beacon.
The filing says Nadine Sébag, a French teacher at the UN International School (UNIS) for three decades, described a workplace openly hostile toward Jewish staff. She alleges a colleague made comments about “Jews are driven by money” and issued “vulgar references to the Holocaust,” yet the school refused to act. Instead, Sébag says UNIS subjected her to a 15-month inquiry into her own conduct, ultimately forcing her out.
According to the lawsuit, Sébag filed eight detailed complaints but received “not a single substantive response” from the school or its board. Rather than end the misconduct, the suit states, administrators let it escalate while intensifying their scrutiny of her.
The case emerges amid longstanding concerns about anti-Semitism in UN-run schools abroad. The complaint argues that the same problems have spread to the UN’s U.S. educational arm, pointing to foreign donors – including a 2023 $60 million pledge from Qatar – that have historically supported extremist groups. Although founded and overseen by the UN, UNIS is a nonprofit subject to New York anti-discrimination law.
Sébag says the harassment began after she was assigned to share an office in 2022 with teacher Nehad Soliman, who allegedly made repeated anti-Jewish and anti-French remarks. The suit claims Soliman accused Sébag of anti-Muslim bias after a conversation about head coverings but later privately conceded the accusation was false—yet the investigation continued for months.
Sébag says the hostility and prolonged probe damaged her health and amounted to “constructive termination.”
Another teacher, Isabelle Chu, reported that Soliman “physically assaulted” her after Chu defended Sébag. Chu wrote that Soliman raged about Jews “controlling” UNIS and New York and threatened that those who crossed her would “pay accordingly.”
Jewish faculty member Michal Urieli separately told administrators she had faced “vulgar references to the Holocaust and gas chambers.” She alleged Soliman repeatedly shoved a phone in her face showing graphic images meant to depict Israeli soldiers harming children, demanding she “respond on behalf of the State of Israel.” Urieli also raised concerns about a school “Walls of Peace” project that she said featured material linked to a pro-Hamas organization.
NJAC, which represents Sébag, says the case reflects a broader pattern: “Rather than examine the reported anti-Semitic conduct, the institution turned its investigatory machinery on the Jewish faculty member who reported it,” said senior litigation counsel Lauren Israelovitch.