Antisemitism fears grow at Fieldston School — fueled by Sunny Hostin-backed letter supporting ‘Free Palestine’ students
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin has found herself at the center of a dispute between parents at the posh Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Bronx over the conflict in Israel and the school’s reaction to it.
Parents of Jewish children at the $63,000-per-year school have been appalled by incidents including anti-Israel graffiti on campus and a student — tormented by classmates with names like “ethnic cleanser” and “colonizer” — who witnessed a teacher giving a middle finger to a rabbi, according to his mother.
Hostin’s own daughter, Paloma, who graduated from Fieldston in June, seemingly poured gasoline on the fire after graduating, posting: “Now that I got my diploma: FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE,” in a Snapchat post obtained and shared on X by StopAntisemitism.
The phrase is interpreted by Jewish people as offensive and calling for the eradication of Israel.
“And to all the mfs who screenshotted my stories and showed them to your parents trying to get me suspended or expelled, look at me now,” Paloma added.
Hostin, 55, is among more than 100 signatories of a letter sent to the school July 7, which complained in part about “unequal discipline, unfair treatment and biased standards we perceive our children to be subjected to at [the school] since the resumption of war in the Middle East.”
“We the undersigned parents of color, parents of students of color expect the school to meet with us, treat us with respect, and come to transparent resolutions that reflect the best efforts of the entire community, instead of the loudest efforts of part of it,” the letter, signed by Christian, Muslim, Jewish and LGBTQ parents and alumni, added.
A copy of the letter was posted on the Jews in School website.
The letter stemmed from the suspension and expulsion of a young Afro Caribbean student from the school.
Although Fieldston wouldn’t give the official reason for the expulsion, the signers of the letter linked it to the student wearing a dress that featured a Palestinian flag and the words “Free Palestine.”
She also reportedly wore pants with the same message and created artwork with the words “From the River to the Sea” on it.
Hostin said the girl lost her contract with the school, which included a scholarship and a job on campus and, she claims, was not given a reason why she was expelled other than the school could not “provide for her safety” from other students.
“She was discriminated against because she was an antiwar advocate,” Hostin told The Post.
“She received disparate treatment than other students and that was the impetus of the coalition forming.”
Hostin — who previously declined to comment on The Post’s reporting about Fieldston — said her email address was on the letter sent to the school because other signatories were too afraid to have their names made public for fear of retaliation. She also noted she was not the sole author of the letter.
Said Hostin: “The notion that I, a person of Jewish ancestry and my daughter, a person of Jewish ancestry, are antisemitic is not only despicable, it’s absurd.”
In response to the letter from the coalition, the Jewish Affinity Group fired back with its own letter accusing Hostin and her co-signatories of reducing Jewish parents’ concerns to little more than “white people problems.”
Fieldston has been struck with both pro-Palestinian protests and cries of antisemitism by Jewish parents for many months.
One former parent called the school “a hotbed of Jew-hate and these terror-supporting students” in an Instagram post.
After protests heated up this spring, Fieldston students began joining “affinity groups” according to their racial, religious and cultural identities, resulting in conflict.
“JewsInSchool supports Fieldston’s Jewish Affinity Group and reiterates their call for a return to a traditional liberal educational lens and rejection of policies that create divisiveness around identity,” a spokeswoman for the group told The Post.
Others, like Hostin, say students described as “antiwar” have been unfairly penalized by the school for their beliefs.
The girl who the letter says was expelled was apparently targeted and harassed on social media by Israel-supporting students after wearing her “Free Palestine” clothes.
In May, a senior faced “disciplinary consequences” after being identified as the vandal who defaced its entrance with anti-Israel graffiti, although the school has refused to give details of any punishment.
The senior wrote “Free Palestine” in yellow letters on the brick wall above the school’s front entrance.
A group of Jewish Fieldston families and alumni wrote a “Stop Antisemitism” letter to administrators on May 19 with a list of 10 demands to make the Ivy Preparatory School League school safer for their kids.
Two Fieldston parents who are Jewish said the school had not responded in any way to the May demand letter.
Hostin similarly said Fieldston has not responded to her group’s letter which asked, among other things, that the expelled student be reinstated.
Gwen Rocco, a managing director with the high-powered Risa Heller Communications firm that is now representing the school, declined comment on individual students or the letters.
“We are committed to fostering a safe and inclusive ECFS community for all our students, and this absolutely and unequivocally includes our Jewish students,” she wrote in an email.
A longtime Jewish activist who has had children in several private schools in the city said Fieldston has been at the epicenter of problematic activism for years.
In 2019, the school invited Kayum Ahmed of George Soros’ Open Society Foundation to lecture at the school about apartheid
During his talk, he told students and faculty: “That Jews who suffered in the Holocaust and established the State of Israel today — they perpetuate violence against Palestinians that [is] unthinkable.”
Said the activist: “Jewish parents are clutching their pearls now; they should have done more back in 2019.”
