‘Absurd’: Ms. Rachel fans enraged pro-Israel group accused children’s YouTuber of Hamas ties
A pro-Israel group is calling for the Department of Justice to open an investigation into Ms. Rachel, a YouTuber known for her children's educational content, over alleged pro-Hamas propaganda.
On Monday, StopAntisemitism—an advocacy group aimed at combating antisemitism, but which has faced criticism for targeting Jewish people—announced it was calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi "to investigate if Ms. Rachel is being funded by a foreign party to push anti-Israel propaganda to skew public opinion."
The group went on to dub Ms. Rachel an "amplifier of Hamas propaganda," citing her comments on the number of children killed in Gaza, aid being blocked from entering Gaza, and more.
The group disputed Ms. Rachel's claims that 14,000 children have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, a figure that is also used by multiple UN agencies, and ripped into her characterization of the child death toll in Gaza, arguing that "Israel [is] taking extensive measures to minimize civilian casualties."
StopAntisemitism also pointed out the YouTube creator's criticism of aid being blocked, arguing that nearly two million tons of aid have been delivered since Oct. 7. (UNICEF says it "has thousands of pallets of aid waiting to enter the Gaza Strip" but nothing has been allowed entry since March 2.)
It also accused Ms. Rachel of amplifying viral, debunked images that it says misrepresented the war in Gaza, including images taken from Wikipedia of frostbite while temperatures in Gaza were warm and an image of a starving child it says just had cystic fibrosis.
However, while the particular frostbite image may have been debunked, health officials have reported multiple cases of children dying from hypothermia.
And in the cystic fibrosis case, that child's mother told the Washington Post he was suffering from both untreated cystic fibrosis and starvation.
Ms. Rachel is the channel of Rachel Griffin-Accurso, a New York teacher who has amassed 14 million subscribers on YouTube with educational-focused content using songs and nursery rhymes to help language development and other preschool skills.
Her pro-Palestine content has appeared primarily on her social media—though it is not the main focus of her feed. She did, however, share a video of her singing a “prayer for children” in Gaza and for Israel to “please stop hurting them.”
In the letter to Bondi, which was obtained by the New York Post, StopAntisemitism expressed concern that there may be a "similar dynamic in the online influencer space" to "foreign funds that have been directed toward propagandizing our young people on college campuses."
The letter went on to accuse Ms. Rachel of "incorporating Hamas-like propagated images and stories into her content" and "largely ignor[ing] the suffering of Israeli victims, hostages, and Jewish children."
StopAntisemitism, which has previously been accused by critics of sometimes conflating antisemitism with anti-Israel stances, quickly ignited fury among pro-Palestinian users for its attack on Ms. Rachel.
"Gonna go out on a limb here and say sending Ms Rachel to Guantanamo will do the exact opposite of stopping antisemitism," swiped one person.
"Ms. Rachel is pro Hamas for caring about the lives of innocent Gazan children?" questioned someone else.
"Hahaha they're really doing Ms. Rachel is Hamas," mocked another commenter, who added: "You gotta be really cooked to not realize how absurd this looks."
"As someone who at this point has watched a LOT of Ms. Rachel now with my nephew, she's the most inoffensive and uninvolved dramawise channel around," commented another critic. "She made what like maybe 3 or 4 posts praying for children in Palestine who watch her. That's her great crime."
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