Not in the Neighborhood: Ms. Rachel’s Radical Departure From Mr. Rogers’ Moral Compass | The American Spectator

Trading Mr. Rogers’ cardigan for Hamas controversy, Ms. Rachel — the YouTube darling of preschoolers whose “Songs for Littles” has garnered more than 14.7 million subscribers — has sparked backlash over what some have claimed to be her promotion of propaganda supportive of Hamas. Platforming Motaz Azaiza, a Palestinian journalist who has been considered by Israeli media as “one of the most identifiable voices with Hamas in the digital arena,” Ms. Rachel posted a short video of herself singing about the “letter M” with “my friend Motaz.” Describing himself as a “genocide survivor,” Azaiza has called for “Palestinian resistance” after the October 7 vicious attack on Jews in Southern Israel.

Last spring, Ms. Rachel shared content that suggested that Israel was the aggressor in the War, showing photos of emaciated children without noting that, in some cases, these children were suffering from genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis. Last Spring, the StopAntisemitism organization appealed to the American Justice Department to ask U. S. officials to open an investigation into whether Ms. Rachel is serving as a paid propaganda agent. The StopAntisemitism website declares that “Accurso spreads evil propaganda against the State of Israel to more than 20 million followers through multiple accounts, more than the entire population of Jews and Israelis in the world.”

Earlier this year, Ms. Rachel ignored the Israeli hostages and Jewish children impacted by the October 7 attack and raised $50,000 through Cameo for Gaza’s children, along with the children of Sudan and Ukraine. Later, she posted on Instagram that Israel had violated the Geneva Convention by halting aid when Hamas broke the ceasefire. The truth is that Israel has overseen the transfer of more than 2 million tons of aid into Gaza on more than 107,000 trucks since the War began after October 7.

While much of her pro-Palestinian rhetoric has been posted on Instagram, Ms. Rachel has also used her “Songs for Littles” YouTube channel to convince children and their parents of Israel’s malign complicity in hurting children. In this heartbreaking video, Ms. Rachel sings one of her viewers’ favorite “songs for littles” with Rahaf, a 3-year-old double amputee from Gaza who had been evacuated for medical treatment by the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. In an interview with PBS, Ms. Rachel said that the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund reached out to her when they first saw her advocacy for Gaza and asked her to help. “They told me Rahaf loved the show, and then they said, Would you want to meet her and have her on the show? And I said I’d love to … I’m so honored that I could be helpful or I could provide a moment of relief or joy in the midst of genocide.”

Ms. Rachel shared that Rahaf’s father and two baby brothers are still in Gaza, but they have family FaceTime calls with them. But according to BuzzFeed, the family avoids eating during the FaceTime calls because “the family has so little food” in Gaza. Echoing Hamas’s talking points and relying on data from Hamas’s health ministry, Ms. Rachel has shared that 14,000-15,000 children had been murdered by Israel in Gaza since October 7. These figures have been debunked by Hamas itself, as reported in the Jerusalem Post, which claimed that 70 percent of all of those killed were combat-aged men, not women or children.

All of this is far from the kind and gentle — and apolitical — Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Refusing to use his platform to promote his politics, Mr. Rogers preached love and acceptance in a period of history marked by turbulent politics, racial tension, and the Vietnam War. Mr. Rogers never tried to tell children that the United States was the aggressor in the War in Vietnam — he simply never spoke of it. Everyone was welcome in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood — including Black children and adults, as well as children with handicaps. As one writer recently observed: “His show tackled grief, divorce, race issues and disability by asking kids what they thought instead of speaking for them.” Mr. Rogers taught kindness — not ideology.  Ms. Rachel’s platforming Hamas sympathizers breaks that trust.

Ms. Rachel’s support for Gaza — at the expense of Israel — is just the latest political entanglement to draw backlash to her YouTube channel. In June 2024, Ms. Rachel celebrated Pride Month on her “Songs for Littles” show, posting a video on the first day of Pride Month. “Happy Pride to all of our wonderful families and friends.” And the year before, some parents expressed anger and frustration around her featuring Jules Hoffman, a nonbinary co-star with a nose ring and an ambiguous gender presentation.

It is doubtful that Fred Rogers would ever feature a nonbinary co-star like Jules Hoffman or celebrate Pride Month on his Neighborhood of Make-Believe. He knew it would be confusing for toddlers — just as he would have rejected Drag Queen Story Hour at the local library. Mr. Rogers invited children to embrace their God-given identity and to always remember that they were loved “just the way they are.” He even had a song celebrating that called: “I Like You As You Are.” Ms. Rachel’s platform reflects a dramatic departure from the message of love, kindness, and self-acceptance that Mr. Rogers promoted — it is one that calls into question Ms. Rachel’s fitness as a shaper of young minds.

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