Overview

Ms. Rachel Antisemitism Controversy, also known as StopAntisemitism Judicial Inquiry Request Against Ms. Rachel, refers to viral discourse about the Twitter / X account StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the children's YouTuber and content creator Ms. Rachel for allegedly receiving money to promote supposed "pro-Hamas" views. The non-profit accused Ms. Rachel (the online persona of New York teacher and singer-songwriter Rachel Griffin-Accurso, known for creating educational videos for kids) of receiving foreign funding to push anti-Israel propaganda in early April 2025. Ms. Rachel has been known to share fundraising posts to raise money for children facing the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and its effects on Gaza. As the accusations garnered attention, many internet users commented on what they believed was an absurd accusation, saying that the children's YouTuber should not be equated with Hamas for expressing her sympathies toward Palestinian children.

Background

YouTube creator Ms. Rachel (Rachel Griffin-Accurso) made a post^[6] promoting the World Food Program U.S.A's campaigns to feed children in conflict zones like Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and Mali on November 26th, 2024, and subsequently shared a video^[7] of children watching her YouTube show from a tent in Gaza on January 24th, 2025. These are two of several posts shared by Ms. Rachel as part of her fundraising efforts targeted at children living with food instability.

StopAntisemitism Allegations

On April 7th, 2025, the X^[1] / Twitter account of the antisemitism group StopAntisemitism, @StopAntisemites, made a post that read, "StopAntisemitism is calling on Attorney General Bondi to investigate if Ms. Rachel is being funded by a foreign party to push anti-Israel propaganda to skew public opinion. Since 10/7, Ms. Rachel has transformed into an amplifier of Hamas propaganda, broadcasting to 20M+ followers across her platforms."

The account then listed out what it believed was anti-Israel propaganda shared by the YouTuber in previous months. The post gathered over 3,800 likes in two days.

Developments

StopAntisemitism Letter

On April 7th, 2025, the New York Post^[8] published an exclusive article on the controversy between StopAntisemitism and Ms. Rachel, which included quotes from StopAntisemitism director Liora Rez in a letter sent that day to Attorney General Pam Bondi. In the letter, Rez stated:

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). 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.

The article also included numerous examples of posts from Ms. Rachel's social media accounts that allegedly promoted such content. On April 9th, the YouTube account ETimes uploaded a video sharing many of these from the report.

As of the morning of April 9th, 2025, Ms. Rachel has not responded to the accusations from StopAntisemitism or responded to requests for comments from media outlets.^[9]

Online Reactions

On April 8th, 2025, X^[4] user @samfbiddle shared a screenshot from the New York Post^[8] article covering the story, showing Ms. Rachel saying a prayer for the children in Gaza. The caption on the post read, "Incredibly revealing choice of photo illustration for the Post's article about how Ms. Rachel is a terror propagandist." The tweet received over 300,000 views and 18,000 likes in roughly a day.

Several Twitter users reacted to the news as it continued to spread and spark discussions online, with X^[2] user @mattlieb writing, "Gonna go out on a limb here and say sending Ms Rachel to Guantanamo will do the exact opposite of stopping antisemitism," on April 8th, 2025, gathering over 15,000 likes in a day.

Also on April 8th, X^[3] user and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker wrote, "liora rez, i think life would be so much better if you took your klonopin while reading erotic fiction like the other bored long island housewives instead of becoming this knesset funded gang stalker for an apartheid you don’t even live in." The post gathered over 10,000 likes in a day.

That same day, X^[5] user @marionumber4 shared an I'm Joining the War meme about the controversy that gathered over 200 likes in a day.

The topic also appeared on various subreddits in early April 2025, including the subreddit /r/therewasanattempt^[10] on April 8th, which received over 6,800 upvotes and 150 comments in a day.

Search Interest

External References