The most influential promoter of antisemitism in the United States isn’t Elon Musk, who appeared to do a Sieg Heil salute at Trump’s inauguration; nor is it Kanye West, who famously tweeted that he loved Hitler, or the podcaster Candace Owens, who has promoted the blood-libel conspiracy theory. The pro-Israel lobbying organization StopAntisemitism wants you to believe the real danger is actually a lady in overalls and a pink headband who sings about how bubble gum is sticky.
The organization, which has spent the past year and a half publicly identifying pro-Palestine protesters, is now coming after Ms. Rachel, a beloved YouTuber known for her videos for babies and toddlers. In a letter posted to social media on Monday, StopAntisemitism asked attorney general Pam Bondi to investigate whether Ms. Rachel is “being funded by a foreign party to push anti-Israel propaganda to skew public opinion” and referred to her as an “amplifier” of pro-Hamas content.
“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 wrote in the letter, which was also published by the New York Post.
In the letter, StopAntisemitism accuses Ms. Rachel of exaggerating statistics about the death toll from the Israel-Gaza conflict as well as claiming that “Israel is indiscriminately bombing kids despite Israel taking extensive measures to minimize civilian casualties.” (As of last month, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry; per the U.N., about a third of those casualties have been children.) StopAntisemitism also accused Ms. Rachel of posting misinformation about the war, including a viral photo of a “starving child” in Gaza who was actually a child with cystic fibrosis. (The Washington Post reported the 6-year-old boy in the image was suffering from both starvation and cystic fibrosis.)
For those who do not have a child under age 2 at home, Ms. Rachel is perhaps best known for writing bops including “Icky Sticky Bubble Gum” and “I’m So Happy (Jump, Clap, Spin, Stomp Stomp, Hey).” Since creating the YouTube series Songs for Littles to help children with language delays, she has become a cultural behemoth, signing a deal with Netflix and racking up more than 20 million followers across platforms.
Yet this isn’t the first time Ms. Rachel has been targeted by the right. In 2023, they threatened to boycott her channel for featuring the nonbinary singer-songwriter Jules Hoffman, whom parents accused of indoctrinating their children with such politically charged numbers as “Train Chug Chug Chug Song” and “Crabby Crab.” Ms. Rachel also sparked the ire of conservative parents last year when she posted a TikTok video wishing her LGBTQ+ followers a happy Pride Month.
Notably, Ms. Rachel has been vocal in her support for both Palestinian and Israeli children since the October 7, 2023, attacks that left 1,200 Israeli civilians dead. Last May, she launched a fundraising campaign on Cameo for the humanitarian organization Save the Children, which garnered more than $50,000 for starving children in Gaza. When pro-Israel commenters accused her of having a pro-Palestine bias, Ms. Rachel posted a tearful video decrying the “bullying.”
“I care deeply for all children. Palestinian children, Israeli children, children in the U.S. — Muslim, Jewish, Christian children — all children, in every country. Not one is excluded,” she wrote in the caption of her post. “I think part of why people respond to the show is they feel that care — I see every child as I see my own.”
StopAntisemitism’s attacks on Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, are part of a broader effort to accuse critics of Israel of antisemitism. Last month, the Department of Education sent letters to more than 60 college campuses saying they were under investigation for failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. The Trump administration also canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Columbia University, one of the major loci of the campus protests that erupted during the Israel-Gaza war last year.
Following the arrest and detention of pro-Palestine student activists such as Columbia’s Mahmoud Khalil last month, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday it would be investigating U.S. immigrants’ social-media posts for evidence of “antisemitic terrorism,” which it defined as “violent antisemitic ideologies and antisemitic terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or Ansar Allah a.k.a.: ‘the Houthis.’” If StopAntisemitism’s letter is any indication, soon we can add “fundraising for starving children of all nationalities” to the list.