This month the Israeli-American grassroots activist group StopAntisemitism has nominated Ms. Rachel as 2025 Antisemite of the Year. Rachael Ann Accurso, otherwise known as Ms. Rachel, is an American YouTuber that creates educational content for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Her channel has 16.5 million subscribers with over 12 billion views. She has received multiple awards and nominations for her content, including two Emmys and Glamour magazine's Woman of the Year.
The accusation comes from Ms. Rachel sharing content from Palestinian journalists on her social media profiles, allegedly having ties with and receiving funding from Hamas, calling for cease fire in Gaza, and allegedly "amplifying misinformation from Hamas" to a young audience. This is primarily derived from Ms. Rachel hosting Motaz Azaiza, a Palestinian photojournalist whos mission is to expose Israeli terrorism and genocide in Gaza. According to StopAntisemitism, Azaiza is a "terrorist sympathizer who celebrated the 10/7 massacre & openly idolizes Yahya Sinwar."
Since May, Ms. Rachel has often posted on her Instagram account about the suffering of children in Gaza from the war alongside expressing grief for Israeli families that have had their children taken hostage by Hamas. Additionally, Ms. Rachel has closed comments on her social media profiles after receiving harassment and death threats from zionists online for organizing over $50,000 in fundraising via Cameo to support Save The Children's emergency fund for Gaza and other war-torn parts of the world. In interviews with Medhi Hasan and Democracy Now!, she has stated "It’s sad that people try to make it controversial when you speak out for children that are facing immeasurable suffering… it is difficult to receive criticism, but… that pain will never compare to the pain of not speaking out during a genocide". Ms. Rachel has also stated that she will never collaborate with anyone who has not spoken out against violence in Gaza.
The New York Times has also published an unevidenced claim from StopAntisemitism that Ms. Rachel receives channel funding from Hamas, which Ms. Rachel responded by calling the accusation "…not only absurd, it’s patently false… caring about children in Gaza is a direct continuation of the work I’ve been doing most of my life. We don’t care about only some of our students because of where those students were born, we care about every one of them." In light of this, Ms. Rachel announced she was "unsubscribing from The New York Times because of its biased and dehumanizing coverage of Palestinians and Palestine, and its failure to uphold journalistic integrity."
Other finalists for Antisemite of the Year include former Fox News host and independent podcaster Tucker Carlson, UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell, and 19-year-old TikTok influencer Guy Christensen.
Sources:
https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/toddler-star-ms-rachel-named-finalist-for-antisemite-of-the-year-amid-gaza-advocacy-stopantisemitism-tucker-carlsonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms._Rachelhttps://x.com/StopAntisemites/status/1995585718408638640