An experienced Jewish educator has taken legal action against the prestigious United Nations International School (UNIS) in Manhattan, claiming the institution neglected her reports of antisemitism and punished her for speaking out against anti-Jewish sentiment.
The school, which serves the children of Turtle Bay diplomats and affluent families, charges between $45,000 and $50,000 annually for students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Nadine Sebag, who has a three-decade tenure teaching French at UNIS and hails from France, initiated her civil rights lawsuit in the Manhattan State Supreme Court last month.
The lawsuit alleges that a fellow French teacher, Nehad Soliman, who is Muslim, engaged in a deliberate and prolonged campaign of harassment and bias against Sebag.
According to the legal filing by the National Jewish Advocacy Center, Soliman allegedly made statements that “Jews are driven by money, that Jews control UNIS and New York, and that French people are inherently racist.”
The lawsuit contends that UNIS failed to address numerous complaints of discriminatory behavior and retaliated against Sebag for highlighting the harassment, which led to significant emotional distress and health issues, ultimately resulting in her premature retirement.
Sebag seeks more than $750,000 in damages.
“This case is about the equal enforcement of civil rights laws,” said Lauren Israelovitch, senior Litigation Counsel at NJAC.
“Rather than examine reported antisemitic conduct, UNIS turned its investigatory machinery against the Jewish faculty member who reported discriminatory behavior.”
The suit alleged that Soliman was hostile and confrontational with Sebag.
In one incident, on Feb. 13, 2023, Soliman entered their shared office and demanded that Sebag respond to a cartoon from the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, which Ms. Soliman found offensive.
When Sebag didn’t immediately respond, Soliman aunched into a tirade regarding France’s restrictions on religious attire in public schools and accused the plaintiff of taking issue with her hijab, the suit said.
Sebag said she sought de-escalate the situation. She explained that she did not object to Soliman’s hijab, but that, as a feminist, she opposed circumstances in which women were compelled to wear religious attire against their will when men were not subject to comparable requirements.
Sebag was told that Soliman lodged a formal complaint against her.
She filed her own discrimination and harassment complaint against Soliman with the school’s human resources office.
The toxic conditions Sebag worked in, and the lack of response from UNIS brass including Executive Director Dan Brenner, prompted her husband, Robert Weingrad, to intervene.
Weingrad sent a letter to Weingrad asking why his wife had not been protected from “unprovoked aggression and harassment.”
At a mandatory mediation meeting called by UNIS to resolve the dispute between Sébag and Soliman, the suit said, Sébag claimed she was put on the defensive and forced to explain her Jewish identity.
When Sébag asked Ms. Soliman whether she had ever made racial slurs about Soliman’s hijab or her religion, Ms. Soliman said no.
The suit said another teacher, Isabelle Chu, reported that Soliman had assaulted her. Other teachers also raised concerns regarding Soliman’s aggressive and inappropriate conduct, confirming Sebag’s complaints.
Meanwhile, the suit raised broader concerns about Jew hatred at UNIS, the suit alleges.
Hamas-linked posters were displayed on UNIS’s “Walls of Peace,” including QR codes, without disciplinary action, the suit said.
The lawsuit further states that UNIS accepted more than $110 million in pledged funding from Oman and Qatar, and that the permanent representatives of both nations sit on the school’s board of trustees.
The US government has publicly identified Qatar as a financial sponsor of Hamas.
“Make no mistake — this is not just a Jewish story; this unfortunately is an American story. When an institution can permit open religious discrimination and escape accountability because of who funds the school or the flags it flies, every minority, every employee, and every parent is at risk — and that institution must be held liable,” said NJAC spokesman Hank Sheinkopf.
The lawsuit seeks damages exceeding $750,000, punitive damages, and a jury trial on six causes of action under the New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws.
A UNIS rep dismissed the lawsuit.
“The United Nations International School stands firm against these baseless allegations. We are confident that this matter will be addressed through the proper legal process and that our institution’s integrity and reputation will be upheld,” said UNIS spokesperson Lupe Todd-Medina.
