UN International School Seizes Yearbooks With Swastikas, Bans Students From Graduation

The United Nations International School confiscated more than 30 middle-school yearbooks containing swastikas, antisemitic remarks, and other hate speech in the autograph sections. The school sent a letter to parents on Wednesday announcing the seizure and an investigation into the students responsible. Fifteen students have been identified as potentially involved.

School officials said the confiscated yearbooks will be destroyed once the investigation concludes. The school canceled Wednesday’s eighth-grade dance for 130 students. Lupe Todd-Medina, a UNIS spokesperson, said the cancellation reflected “profound sadness and disappointment” rather than collective punishment.

Students found to have written in the yearbooks were banned from Thursday’s graduation, Todd-Medina confirmed. The middle school also held a session led by its diversity and inclusion director to discuss hate speech and its impact on the community. The United Nations International School, located in Turtle Bay, Manhattan, charges $50,000 per year in tuition and serves children of diplomats.

The school was founded in 1947 by United Nations parents. A longtime Jewish teacher filed a discrimination suit in February alleging administrators ignored complaints of Jew hatred and retaliated against her. The lawsuit stated that UNIS accepted more than $110 million in pledged funding from Oman and Qatar, whose permanent representatives sit on the school’s board of trustees.

Todd-Medina said the school stands firm against the allegations in the lawsuit and expects the matter to be addressed through proper legal process. An Israeli parent told The Post that a prior yearbook featured keffiyeh imagery and that “Free Gaza” stickers on campus upset Jewish students. A private-school advisor told The Post that families are leaving the institution.