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Podcaster Avi Lichtschein confronted popular children’s educator Ms. Rachel about her anti-Israel comments during an interaction at a neighborhood park, according to the Sunday episode of his show, “Depends on the Context.”
During the episode, Lichtschein described running into the YouTuber, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, while they were both taking their children to the park. After meeting her, he asked her why she was anti-Israel. Accurso reportedly told him that she was not anti-Israel, but anti-Israeli government and anti-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I pushed back on this, and I said, ‘That’s absurd,'” Lichtschein said. “Saying you’re anti-Netanyahu, but you’re not anti-Israel? Netanyahu is the democratically elected leader of the sovereign nation. I think what [she does] is way beyond that.”
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Children’s educator Rachel Griffin Accurso has been criticized for making anti-Israel statements. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Lichtschein said that Accurso also accused Israel of committing a “genocide” through its war with Hamas.
“She said something along the lines of, ‘Twenty thousand children have died. How is that not a genocide?'” Lichtschein said. “The answer is — and this is what I was trying to convey to her — genocide is not just a word for, like, a war. War is terrible. Again, Hamas started this war. Genocide is the specific accusation that [she’s] hurling at the Jewish people, hurling at the state of Israel, and now it gives carte blanche to go open season on Jews literally around the world.”
Lichtschein added that Accurso repeatedly said that her “husband’s father is Jewish” and that she supports the existence of a Jewish state. He informed her that she was “spreading blood libel” and that there was “blood on your hands” for her ignorance before she ultimately walked away.
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Lichtschein then spoke to Accurso’s husband on the matter, apologizing for upsetting her, though he did not take back his comments.
The popular YouTuber accused Israel of being guilty of genocide in Gaza. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“I wasn’t planning on changing her mind,” Lichstein said. “I wanted to point out your words are creating a lot of damage and someone with an audience as enormous as hers has a responsibility to understand what happens downstream from the things that she says. I think that what she’s doing is motivated by compassion for children, but I think she’s very naïve and gullible and doesn’t realize what her actions are doing to the Jewish community at large, what her words are doing to the enemy of the Jewish people. What she’s doing is harmful.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Accurso for comment.
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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Lichtschein recalled that Accurso told him that she considers herself a “Zionist” akin to former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.
“The timing struck me because it was such a vivid example of the point I had been trying to make to Rachel. You may personally consider yourself a Zionist and may not intend your rhetoric to contribute to hostility toward Jews or Zionists, but when you have an enormous platform, you have to think seriously about what happens downstream from the rhetoric you amplify,” Lichtschein said.
Podcaster Avi Lichtschein confronted Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Accurso, during a brief interaction at the park. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
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He added, “I don’t think Rachel hates Jews, and I’m sure her advocacy comes from a place of genuine compassion for children. But when you have an audience as enormous as hers, you have a responsibility to understand the consequences of the claims you’re amplifying. That’s what I wanted her to hear.”