reposted from The New Arab
A beloved American children’s educator is being targeted by a pro-Israel organisation – not for political commentary, but for calling attention to the starvation of Palestinian children and urging the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Rachel Griffin Accurso, known to millions of families around the world as Ms. Rachel, has come under fire from StopAntisemitism, a US-based pro-Israel group that accuses her of “spreading Hamas propaganda” simply for expressing concern for the suffering of children in Gaza.
StopAntisemitism, a right-wing organization known for launching public smear campaigns against activists, artists, and academics critical of Israel, has been widely criticized for conflating legitimate criticism of Israeli policies with “antisemitism”.
In a letter sent to US Attorney General Pam Bondi, obtained by The Post, the organization’s director Liora Rez called for an investigation into whether Ms. Rachel was being paid to share pro-Gaza content, and whether this might violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) – a law usually aimed at covert foreign lobbying or government influence operations.
Rez claims that Ms. Rachel has been “incorporating Hamas-like propagated images and stories into her content” and alleges that she has “largely ignored the suffering of Israeli victims, [captives], and Jewish children”.
The organization disputes several examples of content Ms. Rachel has posted because they challenge the Israeli narrative.
One such post featured a photograph of a severely malnourished child in Gaza, Fadi al-Zant, which the group says was misleading because he had cystic fibrosis.
In reality, Fadi was dying of both the condition and starvation, as confirmed by his own mother in an interview with The Washington Post.
Another point of contention: Ms. Rachel’s reference to the 15,000+ children killed in Gaza since Israel’s war on the enclave began in October 2023 – a figure cited by the Gaza Health Ministry, confirmed by numerous international aid organizations, and considered credible by the United Nations. Israel disputes the figure but has not provided transparent alternatives or access for independent verification.
The group also slammed Ms. Rachel for posting about children dying of hypothermia in Gaza, calling them “fake cold deaths”.
They claimed the images were sourced from Wikipedia and temperatures were “warm”. Freezing temperatures hit Gaza between December 2024 and February 2025, and numerous newborns and children did die from cold, as documented by the Gaza Health Ministry, Doctors Without Borders, and UNICEF. Gaza’s infrastructure had collapsed due to months of siege, with shelters lacking heating, fuel, and power.
StopAntisemitism further claimed that 1.7 million tonnes of aid have entered Gaza, despite Israel having enforced a complete blockade since 2 March, preventing even basic necessities like food, water, and fuel from reaching the population. Aid trucks have been held at the border for weeks, and famine conditions have been reported in northern Gaza.
While the group repeats Israeli military claims that they are taking “extensive measures to minimize civilian casualties”, that narrative is repeatedly contradicted by on-the-ground reporting, satellite evidence, and investigations by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has gone further, finding that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza.
Israel has bombed so-called “safe zones”, hospitals, and schools sheltering civilians, often claiming the presence of Hamas without providing evidence.
As of April 2025, over 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 15,000 children, and hundreds of thousands are at risk of starvation.
A voice for children, not politics
Ms. Rachel, who has built a global reputation through her educational show Songs for Littles, said she was moved to speak out after seeing a video of a traumatized child who survived an Israeli bombing. She began sharing posts raising awareness about Palestinian suffering, focusing on the basic human rights of children, not partisan politics.
In January, she told The Independent that she felt compelled to act, using her large platform to spotlight the crisis. She also revealed that she had been bullied and harassed online for her efforts, even after raising over $50,000 for humanitarian causes, including aid to Gaza.
Despite the backlash, she remains focused on compassion and justice: calling for an end to the suffering, the safe delivery of aid, and the right of all children — Palestinian, Israeli, or otherwise — to live in peace.
NOTE: Actual antisemitism is not as prevalent as Israel partisans would like us to think. A large portion of what they call antisemitism is simply criticism of Israel, the self-proclaimed “Jewish State.” Most of the animosity Israel experiences is opposition to Zionism. Zionism is not a benign philosophy, but a supremacist ideology – the ideology under which Israel dispossessed 750,000 Palestinian people and exiled them to Gaza and other locations.
The so-called “demonization” of Israel is in most cases a legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies of occupation, apartheid, and genocide, and other illegal practices.
The reality of Israel’s brutal siege of Gaza and the West Bank has also forced many Jews in the diaspora to recognize that Israel has not been their defender. To the contrary, the mixing of Judaism with Zionism—religion and bellicose nationalism—has fueled antisemitism.
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