Ms. Rachel Says World Leaders Should ‘Be Ashamed’ of Silence on Genocide, ‘Anti-Palestinian Racism’
"It's never been wrong to say starving and bombing kids is wrong,” the beloved children's YouTuber wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.
Screenshot: YouTube LatestPolitics
I am not a toddler or the parent of one, so recent headlines are the first I’m learning of beloved children’s programming star Ms. Rachel—and everything I’ve seen has converted me into quite a fan.
Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, has been using her sizable platform for months now to advocate for the human rights of Palestinian children and condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Accurso has repeatedly shared photos and videos of starving and injured Palestinian children pleading for help, calling on her followers to donate to humanitarian groups and imploring world leaders to take action. And she’s refused to stop despite all the bogus, frankly delusional attacks from right-wingers trying to smear her as a “terrorist” sympathizer for supporting children’s human rights.
On Tuesday, Accurso shared a lengthy Instagram post addressed to world leaders: “Be ashamed of your silence. Be so ashamed that you’ve seen the images & videos we’ve seen & they haven’t moved you to do the right thing. Be so ashamed that you normally speak out for children & human rights, but won’t now because they are Palestinian. … Be so ashamed of your anti-Palestinian racism.”
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She continued, “Be so ashamed that your constituents are begging & pleading for you speak out and you stay silent. Be so ashamed that you put money & power & your career before the lives of precious children of God. Be so ashamed that our religions tell us to give to the poor, feed the hungry & open our arms to all children & you pretend that they mean only for some children. Celebrities as well. If everyone says something it won’t be controversial anymore. It’s never been wrong to say starving and bombing kids is wrong.”
Last week, Accurso recorded a video alongside Rahaf, a Palestinian child and double amputee who lost her legs in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. The YouTuber connected with Rahaf after seeing a viral video her watching Ms. Rachel videos while recovering from surgery. In one video posted on TikTok, Accurso wrote that she would do everything she could to help Rahaf and “children everywhere whose human rights are being violated,” and encouraged her followers to support the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. “Thank you to everyone who sees Rahaf like you see your own child and is speaking out for her and children like her,” she wrote. “I love you, sweet Rahaf.”