In recent days, a curious and deeply symbolic moment has emerged online — one that some have dubbed “Rachel’s War.”

On one side is “Miss Rachel,” a YouTube personality with millions of followers who recently social media posts Information about Gaza has gone viral, eliciting huge engagement and emotional responses. On the other side is me: an educator, Zionist and Israel scholar who has spent her career thinking about how narratives about Jews and Israel shape our society’s moral imagination.

The contrast is not personal. But it is instructive.

Miss Rachel’s Platform is extraordinary. Her audiences include parents, teachers, and young children who trust her to be a source of safety, warmth, and moral clarity. It’s that trust that makes her recent political involvement so important. When such influential influencers are involved in complex geopolitical conflicts, their framing matters. Their omissions are significant. Even their casual interactions—their “likes,” retweets, and endorsements—matter.

YouTube star Ms Rachel apologizes for liking anti-Semitic comments, says it was an accident

Ms. Rachel is pictured on “TODAY” on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)

Over the past few months, Ms. Rachel has increasingly used her platform to promote a unique narrative about the war in Gaza that emphasizes the suffering of Palestinians while largely ignoring it. Hamas terrorismthe October 7 massacre and the hostage crisis. Even more troubling is her participation in online rhetoric, where what many Jews experience is not political criticism but delegitimization and dehumanization.

When public figures affirm or interact with language directed toward the Jewish community, even indirectly, it does not exist in a vacuum. It becomes part of a broader cultural ecosystem in which anti-Semitism is increasingly normalized, excused, redefined as “radicalism,” and socially accepted.

We must be especially clear about: Criticism of Israeli policies It is legitimate and necessary in any democratic society. Debate, dissent, and protest are important tools for moral accountability. But when criticism slips into rhetoric that erases Jewish history, denies Jewish national identity, or echoes exclusionary language, it ceases to be political criticism and becomes older and more dangerous.

Anti-Semitism: Confronting it. Fight it. finish it

Rachel Griffin-Accurso attends the 2025 Glamor Women Awards at the Plaza Hotel on November 4, 2025 in New York City. Ms Rachel wore a dress embroidered with drawings of Gazan children, including Palestinian flag colors, watermelons and olive branches. Watermelon is often used at anti-Israel protests, including social media and pro-Palestinian demonstrations. (Tyler Hill/FilmMagic)

That’s the irony of “The Two Rachels.”

Rachel 1 represents popular influence that has no historical basis. Another one represents The slow and often tedious work of education: Teach how individual anti-Semitism mutates, how language spreads, and how narratives shape belonging and exclusion.

Here’s the deeper issue – if any influencer engages in content that is seen as hostile to another minority group, the backlash will be swift and clear. Sponsors will respond. The media will demand accountability. The platform will intervene.

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When it comes to Jews, however, the response is often lukewarm. Anti-Semitism is seen as ambiguous. Jews were told to be less sensitive. The remarks were excused as “just politics.”

A memorial at the site of the October 7 Hamas terror attack at the Supernova Music Festival near Kibbutz Reim, Israel, Monday, May 27, 2024. (Coby Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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This double standard is no accident. This is part of a long history in which Jewish vulnerability has been minimized, Jewish fears dismissed, and Jewish identity viewed as uniquely negotiable.

Today we are witnessing the consequences. Anti-Semitism is on the rise globally. Synagogues require armed guards. Jews were murdered Australian Hanukkah Party, A synagogue outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., was burned down during a gathering of hostages in Boulder during the Jewish holidays. Parents will now want to think twice before letting their children wear visible Jewish symbols in public.

In this climate, influence is not neutral. Silence is not harmless.

Jewish tradition teaches us to grapple with complexity, pursue justice, and defend human dignity—both in ourselves and in others. It requires moral seriousness, not slogans. Educate, not outrage. Responsibility, not performative activism.

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So perhaps the real “Rachel’s War” is between two models of public engagement: one rooted in influence without depth. The other is depth without wonder. The question is which one we as a society choose to reward.