YouTube’s top toddler whisperer, Ms. Rachel, should be investigated for possibly being a foreign agent of Hamas over her posts about the deaths of kids in Gaza, a major antisemitism group tells Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Ms. Rachel, real name Rachel Griffin Accurso, has become the modern equivalent of Mister Rogers, educating and entertaining millions of young kids with her “Songs for Littles” streaming shows — which have been viewed more than 10 billion times.
But the Jewish civil rights watchdog group StopAntisemitism said Ms. Rachel is not so sweet.
StopAntisemitism takes issue with multiple posts Ms. Rachel made about the condition of children in the Gaza Strip during the war, alleging that the content is either debunked or disputed by Israel.
The group says the posts are anti-Israel and are meant to inspire pro-Hamas sympathies among young kids.
“Given the vast sums of foreign funds that have been directed toward propagandizing our young people on college campuses, we suspect there is a similar dynamic in the online influencer space,” StopAntisemitism director Liora Rez said in a letter sent Monday to Bondi.
“We urge you and your office to investigate whether or not Ms. Rachel is being remunerated to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers, as this may violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA),” Rez said.
In the letter to Bondi, the group said Ms. Rachel, who once focused solely on catering to children has been “incorporating Hamas-like propagated images and stories into her content.”
“Her posts have largely ignored the suffering of Israeli victims, hostages, and Jewish children, while she consistently amplifies misinformation from Hamas and other anti-Israel sources,” Rez told Bondi, in the letter obtained by The Post.
The posts cited by StopAntisemitism were made to Ms. Rachel’s Instagram account, where she has 2.5 million followers, and generally gears her content toward adults. Many appear to involve widely shared images and stories that have been covered heavily in the media.
Among the objectionable content, according to the group, are viral images of a child with protruding limbs depicting starvation in the enclave. StopAntisemitism claimed those images were debunked, with the child not suffering starvation, but instead suffering from cystic fibrosis.
Fadi al-Zant, the child in question, however, was suffering from both cystic fibrosis and starvation, his mother told the Washington Post. He became a widely shared symbol for what the UN says was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza before the cease-fire.
StopAntisemitism also objected to Ms. Rachel sharing the death toll provided by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which does not differentiate between terrorists and civilians.
StopAntisemitism alleges that the estimates that nearly 15,000 children have died in the war was debunked, accusing the children’s star of spreading misinformation.
Israel disputes the figure, but the UN has reported similar death tolls, as well.
StopAntisemitism also condemned Ms Rachel for echoing reports of children dying from hypothermia in Gaza over the winter, claiming she used pictures from Wikipedia and that Gaza was nowhere near as cold.
Various reports in international media, however, document the deaths of many children in Gaza from December through February due to hypothermia, where freezing mornings hit refugee tents hard in the ruined enclave.
StopAntisemitism ultimately accused Ms. Rachel of perpetuating Hamas’ claims of Israel bombing Gaza indiscriminately and violating the Geneva Convention by halting aid, the latter of which led the International Criminal Court to put out an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes against humanity.
The Israeli military maintains that it takes all necessary precautions to minimize civilian deaths when carrying out airstrikes in Gaza.
Ms Rachel, 42, a teacher who resides in the Upper West Side and whose husband is Broadway music director and composer Aron Accurso, declined to comment after The Post shared StopAntisemitism’s letter to Bondi.
But she previously said she loves all children, after coming under withering criticism for launching a fundraiser for children living in war-zones, including Gaza.
She said tearfully that she had been subjected to bullying.
“I care deeply for all children. Palestinian children, Israeli children, children in the US – Muslim, Jewish, Christian children – all children, in every country. Not one is excluded,” she said in an Instagram post last May.
“I think part of why people respond to the show is they feel that care — I see every child as I see my own. I love every neighbor. Any child suffering is in my heart. To do a fundraiser for children who are currently starving – who have no food or water – who are being killed — is human.”
She also sang a song for children in Israel and Gaza.
“This is a prayer for children in Gaza,” she sings, “This is a prayer for children in Israel. This is a prayer for all the children: please stop hurting them. This is a prayer for all the civilians. This is a prayer for all the hostages. This is a prayer for all the innocent. Please stop hurting them.”
The Post asked StopAntisemitism if it had any evidence to indicate that Ms. Rachel was an agent of Hamas and not just expressing her free speech rights.
“It’s not a secret influencers such as Ms. Rachel often have paid collaborations on social media. That being said, we could not help but notice post 10/7, Ms. Rachel posting a massive barrage of anti-Israel propaganda. This was at the same time as other social media influencers were being paid to post,” Rez said.
“We are merely asking the Attorney General to investigate. While Ms. Rachel is entitled to her opinions and to exercise her free speech rights, there are laws that require those being paid by foreign countries to disclose these things. Foreign agents must register.”
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