Latest news with #Accurso
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SBA offering low-interest loans to tornado-affected residents
The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering low-interest disaster loans to individuals, businesses, and nonprofits impacted by the May 16 tornado that struck Laurel County. As of press time Tuesday afternoon, 79 — 61 homes, 13 businesses, and five EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan) — Kentuckians have applied for an SBA disaster loan, and 17 home loan applications have been offered for just over $2.8 million. Eligible residents can receive in-person assistance at a Business Recovery Center now open in London. The center is at the Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, located at 440 Old Whitley Road. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through July 2. SBA representatives are available on site to help applicants complete their forms and answer questions about loan programs. The SBA is providing several types of loans for those who suffered damage from the storms: — Business Physical Disaster Loans: Up to $2 million for businesses to repair or replace damaged property, equipment, inventory, or supplies. — Home Disaster Loans: Up to $500,000 for homeowners and renters to repair or replace disaster-damaged real estate and personal property, including vehicles. — Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL): Up to $2 million in Russell and 20 additional Kentucky counties for small businesses and nonprofits to help cover ongoing operating expenses such as payroll and rent. According to Public Affairs Specialist James "Jim" Accurso, interest rates can be as low as 2.688% for homeowners and renters, 4% for businesses, and 3.25% for nonprofits. Loan terms can extend up to 30 years. Accurso also shared there is no cost to apply, and residents are not obligated to accept a loan if offered. Survivors may additionally qualify for mitigation funds to help strengthen properties against future disasters. Although Accurso recommends visiting the center in person to receive guidance from trained customer service representatives, applications can also be completed online at
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ms. Rachel Calls Out Media Outlets For Highlighting Olivia Munn Over Children In Gaza
YouTube kids entertainer Ms. Rachel told two major media outlets to 'do better' after they ignored her advocacy for children in Gaza but covered a story about Olivia Munn's distaste for her programming. Parents and People both posted on Instagram about how actor Munn doesn't allow her kids to watch Ms. Rachel because kids' shows drive Munn 'crazy.' The YouTuber, with more than 15 million subscribers, commented on both posts, writing 'I'd rather you cover my advocacy for kids in Gaza.' She also posted screenshots of the posts to her own Instagram, where she made clear her criticism was not of Munn. Ms. Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Accurso, has been vocal about her support for children in Gaza ever since she announced a fundraiser for them in May 2024. Last month, she posted a video singing 'Hop Little Bunnies' with Rahaf, a 3-year-old Palestinian girl who lost her legs in an airstrike. After Accurso posted the video, the pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Accurso for being 'remunerated to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers.' 'It's really painful,' Accurso told NPR about the pushback. 'And I have to remind myself that people don't know my heart, and people try to tell you who you are, but you know who you are. And I know how deeply and equally I care for all children, and I do lean on my faith in that situation.' Accurso also told NPR that she would 'risk everything' to speak up for 'all kids.' Last week, Accurso reiterated her stance when she posted a statement on social media, saying, 'I stand against all forms of hate and violence — including antisemitism, anti-Palestinian hate, anti-Arab hate, anti-Muslim hate and all hate meant to divide us and cause harm rather than bring us together. Every child, person and every family deserves to feel valued, loved and safe.' Accurso also has received criticism for her pro-LGBTQ+ stance. During Pride Month last year, Accurso referenced the Bible on why she supports the LGBTQ+ community. 'I believe it's mentioned eight times: 'Love your neighbor,'' Accurso said in an Instagram video. 'So yes, everyone belongs. Everyone's welcome. Everyone is treated with empathy and respect. It doesn't say, 'Love every neighbor.' Except, there are so many reasons I stand strong in love. I stand with everyone.' Popular Kids Entertainer Says She'll Risk Her Career To Stand Up For Children In Gaza Israel Deports Greta Thunberg After Gaza-Bound Ship She Was On Was Seized Israel Draws Outrage For Seizing Gaza-Bound Aid Boat And Detaining Activists
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Ms. Rachel didn't say Palestinian children's lives are 'worth more' than others
Claim: Rachel Accurso, better known as Ms. Rachel, said, "You may pay a price for defending Palestinian children. Let it be paid! Their lives are worth more!" Rating: Context: Accurso's consistent message, mostly expressed on social media and in interviews, centers her universal support of all children's rights, including access to food, water, education, medical care and protection from violence. In addition to advocating for Gazan and Israeli children and families, she has expressed support for children living in other conflict zones, including Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine. Beginning in May 2025, online users shared quote memes claiming Rachel Accurso, better known as the YouTube children's educational star Ms. Rachel, said the lives of Palestinian children were "worth more" than others. The quote read: "You may pay a price for defending Palestinian children. Let it be paid! Their lives are worth more!" For example, on June 1, an X user posted (archived) a quote meme with Accurso's picture and the purported comment. The post received more than 2.2 million views, 17,000 reposts and 110,000 likes. (Image courtesy of @theleftbible/X) Another X user's post (archived) from May 22 featured a different meme displaying the same quote, earning nearly 2 million views and more than 22,000 reposts and 170,000 likes. Many other users shared the same quote or a meme displaying the quote on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), LinkedIn (archived), Reddit (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived) and X (archived). (Image courtesy of @donyaihsan/X) However, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo, as well as The Associated Press, CNN, Fox News, People and The Washington Post, found no evidence of Accurso ever making the remark, or saying with other words she believed the lives of Palestinian children were more valuable than others. Rather, users sharing the quote with her image and name mischaracterized her past comments, in which she had repeatedly spoken out about the suffering of Gazan children and Israeli hostages during the Israel-Hamas war, as well as children suffering in other countries, while at the same time expressing universal support for all children's rights, including access to food, water, education, medical care and protection from violence. The image of Accurso appearing in the aforementioned June 1 X post originated from an interview on NBC's "Today" show, a brief appearance in which no one mentioned Israel, Gaza or conflict zones. The May 22 X post's photo possibly originated from one of Accurso's videos intended for children. Snopes contacted Creative Artists Agency, which represents Accurso, to ask about the misleading quote memes. We also sent a private message to the author of the aforementioned Reddit post on the r/Palestinian subreddit to ask for their source regarding the quote, as their post was the earliest record found yet online, according to our searches. We will update this story if we learn more. In the year and months since Oct. 7, 2023 — the day when the militant Palestinian group Hamas carried out an attack in Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 hostages, including dozens who later died in captivity — Accurso's @msrachelforlittles Instagram page, and her other social media accounts, became more and more filled with posts about supporting children and families in both Gaza and Israel, as well as those involved in conflicts in other countries. Citing Palestinian health authorities, Reuters reported in March 2025 that Israel's ground and air campaign in Gaza had killed more than 50,000 people, with nearly a third under the age of 18. As one of many examples, on Feb. 9, Accurso posted her thoughts about universally caring for all children, without mentioning any countries or religions. The post read: "Compassion is not controversial. Human rights and children's rights are not controversial. All people being equal is not controversial. Children deserving access to water, food, education and medical care is not controversial. Children deserving to be protected from violence is not controversial." She added in the post's text caption, "Having to say this is heartbreaking." In another example, from June 3, she shared (archived) a message reading, in part, "I stand against all forms of hate and violence — including antisemitism, anti-Palestinian hate, anti-Arab hate, anti-Muslim hate and all hate meant to divide us and cause harm rather than bring us together. Every child, person and every family deserves to feel valued, loved and safe." Accurso's pinned Instagram posts, as of this writing, documented her meeting with a young Gazan girl named Rahaf. "Rahaf is a 3-year-old double amputee who lost her legs in an airstrike," she wrote in one post. In other posts, she told world leaders to "be so ashamed" of remaining silent regarding Gazan suffering, alleging such leaders practiced "anti-Palestinian racism." A review of Accurso's Instagram feed found posts expressing support not just of Gazan children and families but also Israeli victims, including documenting her meeting with "a close family member of hostages," expressing support for Israeli children and others who witnessed Hamas' attack on Oct. 7 and extending sympathy following the announcement of the deaths of three Israeli hostages — a woman named Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel. Also, on May 22, she posted, "My heart is so heavy hearing about the tragic killing of Israeli embassy workers, Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C." In 2023, Accurso teamed up with the humanitarian nonprofit group Save the Children. In May 2024, she experienced online bullying after announcing a fundraiser affiliated with the charity organization, one benefitting children in conflict zones. She specifically mentioned "children living in conflict [in] Gaza, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo [and] Ukraine." On May 12, 2025, the Zeteo news media outlet, founded by journalist Medhi Hasan, published a video interview with Accurso. Hasan asked Accurso a number of questions, including about people who speak out against her for talking about the suffering of Gazan children. Zeteo has since published the full interview on YouTube. Accurso told Hasan: The idea that caring for a group of children in an emergency situation means you don't care about other children is false. And I just don't understand. I just don't understand it. As teachers, I was a New York City public school teacher, and I care about every child in my class. I don't care about half of them because of where they were born. I care about all of them. And if some are in an emergency situation, I'm going to say, "Let's help them." And it doesn't mean I don't deeply care about all of them. Later, she talked about meeting with the family member of an Israeli hostage, saying, "Our compassion doesn't have boundaries or borders. We just love kids, and I have connected and sat with a family member of a, whose family is held hostage right now, and I was moved to tears multiple times. It was horrific and harrowing, and I also put myself, as an empathetic person I put myself in that situation and it's just horrible." Hasan, asking Accurso about "a small minority of people who want to cause trouble" about her advocacy of Gazan children and all children, inquired about those people alleging her words amounted to antisemitism. She responded, while in tears, "It doesn't make sense. It's not true. I'm against any bigotry. And I've seen bigotry. It's, it's horrible. And I'm so against it." Asking why she speaks out in support of children living in conflict zones, including in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and Mali, Accurso responded, "I do think it's a calling from God." In an NPR interview published on June 3, Accurso repeated many of the points she made to Hasan. Responding to a question about people who expressed criticism of her support of Gazan children, she said, "It's really painful. And I have to remind myself that people don't know my heart, and people try to tell you who you are, but you know who you are. And I know how deeply and equally I care for all children, and I do lean on my faith in that situation." The official Ms. Rachel website features biographies for her and her husband, Aron, who both star in their trademark "Songs for Littles" YouTube videos. Her biography twice says she advocates for "all children," makes note of her two master's degrees in education and mentions Herbie, a puppet character that appears in the Ms. Rachel series of videos: Rachel is a passionate educator who creates research-based videos to help toddlers and their families learn, bond, and thrive. Her videos infuse songs, games and nursery rhymes with strategies from experts to help children reach important milestones in the crucial early years of learning. Rachel believes all children are capable, brilliant and important. She loves learning from them and being around their contagious joy and wonder. Rachel has two master's degrees in education. She has one in early childhood development and one in music education. She is an advocate for children's rights and works to ensure that all children have access to high quality early childhood education. She is an ambassador for Save the Children and Room to Grow. Her sweet little boy inspired the show and continues to inspire her work every day! She is married to the amazing, Mr. Aron, AKA HERBIE! The Ms. Rachel YouTube channel has earned over 11 billion views and 15 million subscribers, as of this writing. Accurso's character has appeared in more than 100 videos, including prominently collaborating with the children's TV show "Sesame Street" and the Australian children's music group The Wiggles. For further reading, a previous fact check detailed the facts of another investigation featuring Ms. Rachel, in which an unfounded rumor claimed Accurso filed a lawsuit against comedian and creator Druski over a video parodying her famous character. Al-Mughrabi, Nidal, and Emma Farge. "Gaza Death Toll: How Many Palestinians Has Israel's Offensive Killed?" Reuters, 24 Mar. 2025, Cervantes Jr, Fernando. "Ms. Rachel Defends Advocacy for Palestinian Children amid Backlash: 'It's Sad.'" USA TODAY, 14 May 2025, Hasan, Mehdi. "EXCLUSIVE: The One and Only Ms. Rachel Opens Up to Mehdi on Her Advocacy for Gaza's Kids." Zeteo, 12 May 2025, Locke, Ashley, and Asma Khalid. "Ms. Rachel Says She'll Keep Advocating for Children in Gaza, Even If It Means Risking Her Career." New England Public Media, 3 June 2025, "Ms Rachel DEFENDS Her Support for Gaza's Kids." YouTube, Zeteo, 21 May 2025, "Ms. Rachel Details the Importance of Narrating Your Day to Children." 24 Sept. 2024, "@msrachelforlittles." Instagram, Odenheimer, Natan, et al. "Gaza War Led to Deaths of More Than 3 Dozen Hostages, Officials Say." The New York Times, 8 Mar. 2025, Peled, Anat, and Summer Said. "Hamas Took Around 250 Hostages From Israel. Here's What We Know." The Wall Street Journal, 27 Feb. 2025, "Team (Ms Rachel)." Ms Rachel | Official Site, "Tens of Thousands of Israelis Bid Farewell to Hamas Hostages Shiri Bibas and Her 2 Sons Killed in Gaza." PBS News, 26 Feb. 2025, Tolentino, Daysia. "Viral Kids Creator Ms. Rachel Says She Experienced Bullying after Fundraising for Children in Gaza." NBC News, 17 May 2024, Tracy, Marc. "Why Tot Celebrity Ms. Rachel Waded Into the Gaza Debate." The New York Times, 14 May 2025, "Trump Says Only 21 Hostages Held by Hamas in Gaza Are Still Believed to Be Alive." PBS News via The Associated Press, 7 May 2025, "YouTube Star Educator Ms Rachel Joins Save the Children to Help Boost Child Literacy." Save the Children, 8 Sept. 2023,
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Maine's Ms. Rachel speaks out for Gaza's children
Jun. 3—Rachel Griffin Accurso's popular "Ms. Rachel" YouTube series is all about entertaining and educating tiny children. So it's no surprise Accurso, who grew up in Springvale and started her singing career around Portland, would want to protect children, too. Her show has 15 million subscribers and some episodes stream on Netflix. For months Accurso has been using her platform to speak out forcefully about the horrors of war visited upon Palestinian children in Gaza. Her videos and social media posts have garnered international media attention and prompted the group StopAntisemitism to ask the Department of Justice to investigate whether she's being paid to promote pro-Hamas propaganda, several news outlets have reported. She's also gotten considerable criticism on social media, along with many posts supportive of what she's doing. @msrachelforlittles Dear Leaders — be so ashamed #gaza ♬ original sound — Ms Rachel The attention and attacks have not stopped or slowed Accurso, who announced the birth of her second child in April, via a surrogate. Just a few days ago she posted a tearful message on Tik Tok, telling political leaders to "be ashamed" for not doing enough to stop the killing and maiming of children, a result of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. "Be so ashamed that you don't see Palestinian people or their children as the same as us, and our children. You think their babies don't like peekaboo and don't smile when they see someone they love and don't cry the same?" Accurso says in the post. Mainers who knew Accurso or performed with her say her talent, drive and courage were apparent when she was playing places like One Longfellow Square and Blue in Portland 20 years ago. Singer songwriter Anni Clark says she was surprised to see Accurso's transition to music for infants and toddlers, since her repertoire in Portland included piano-based songs influenced by R&B and jazz. But even then Clark said people could see that Accurso, who studied music at the University of Southern Maine before moving to New York, was likely capable of big things. "The talent and the energy was always apparent. She was fearless, in going out and getting what she wanted. She was relentless in her work," said Clark, who lives in Old Orchard Beach. "She had the drive to be in front of people and express herself. Those of us who perform have that, but her light shone even brighter." Accurso, 42, grew up in the Springvale section of Sanford and graduated from Sanford High School. She studied music at the University of Southern Maine in the early 2000s, and recorded and performed around the area. In an interview at that time with the USM newspaper, the Free Press, she cited Norah Jones and Ben Folds among her influences. She told the Biddeford Journal Tribune, during an interview about her pre-Ms. Rachel music career in 2015, that she had been writing music in her head since she was 5 years old and "thought everybody did." Around the release of her album, Accurso opened for Clark at one of her shows, and Clark remembers Accurso's songs and piano playing as upbeat and high-energy. She also remembers that Accurso was developing a following around Portland. It was a very different following than she has now. "She wrote some provocative, sensual lyrics back then, and I do know she had a huge male fan base," said Clark. Accurso moved to New York to study music at New York University. It was while in New York that she met her husband, Aron Accurso, a musician who was working on Broadway. According to the New York Times they met at a Unitarian Church on the Upper East Side, sometime around 2010. She later spent nine months as a Dramatists Guild Fellow, being mentored by Broadway professionals. In 2016, she emailed the Press Herald — for a story on Maine musicians living in New York City — to say she was living in Manhattan and working on a musical called "We Have Apples," which highlighted the stigma of mental health conditions, and the lack of accessible care. The musical got national attention, including stories in the Washington Post and on CBS News. Accurso, who has masters degrees in early childhood development and music education, began putting her "Songs for Littles" videos online in 2019 with her husband. They created their YouTube series after having a hard time finding online speech development resources for their infant son, who didn't speak until he was two. With bright-colored sets and puppets surrounding her, Accurso dresses in overalls and talks sweetly and enthusiastically to her audience between songs. @msrachelforlittlesMeeting Rahaf from Gaza ?♬ original sound — Ms Rachel Today the YouTube channel has more than 15 million subscribers. Accurso also has more than 3 million followers on Instagram and 6.5 million on Tik Tok. In January, Netflix announced it would begin streaming some of her YouTube episodes. Accurso and her show have been talked about on NBC's "Today," National Public Radio and ABC's "Good Morning America," and she's been written about in the New York Times and Parents magazine, among others. Newspapers and news outlets like NPR, The Guardian and others have written about her lately because of her Gaza videos and statements, and the criticism she's garnered for it. In March, Accurso posted a video of two children watching a "Ms. Rachel" video surrounded by debris. The caption read: "My friends Celine and Silia in what used to be their home in Gaza. They deserve to live in a warm, safe home again." In May, Accurso posted on Instagram about meeting with a 3-year-old girl from Gaza who lost her legs in an airstrike. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ms Rachel (@msrachelforlittles) A representative for Accurso said she was not available for a phone interview, and she did not respond to emailed questions. In a New York Times story in mid-May on her statements about Gaza, Accurso was quoted as denying that she had received any money from Hamas, calling the accusation "absurd." She also explained, in an emailed response, her reasons for continuing to call attention to the children of war-torn Gaza. "I've spent my life committed to the learning and well-being of children," Accurso said. "I have always believed that safety and security are a basic human right for every child — so you see, caring about children in Gaza is a direct continuation of the work I've been doing most of my life. We don't care about only some of our students because of where those students were born, we care about every one of them." Copy the Story Link We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion. You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs. Show less
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
It Should Not Be Controversial to Plead for Gaza's Children
Imagine a child at home, crying. She is inconsolable, screaming for food. A neighbor tries to offer some bread; the door is blocked. A grocery store down the road has plenty of supplies; no one can get to it. The clock ticks down and the child starves, her baby fat melting to nothing. Multiply that possibility by thousands. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian children are starving while food is sitting in trucks, just out of reach. Israel began a total blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza on March 2, the longest such stoppage since the current war began, putting the region at 'critical risk of famine,' according to food-security experts. Israel finally agreed to ease the blockade on Sunday and said that 93 trucks had crossed the border on Tuesday and that an additional 107 had yesterday. Aid has begun to reach civilians after reported delays. But children continue to go hungry. There is no question that the situation for children in Gaza is grave. The World Health Organization stated on May 13 that since Israel's blockade had begun, 57 children had reportedly died from malnutrition, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. More than 14,000 children under 5 are at risk of 'severe acute malnutrition' in Gaza over roughly the next year, according to a recent food-security report. Tom Fletcher, a United Nations official, in a widely shared misstatement of that statistic, warned on Tuesday that 14,000 babies could die within 48 hours unless aid was delivered to them. A former Israeli-government spokesperson told The Times of Israel that Fletcher had caused 'a global media panic about something totally made up.' Getting the facts straight in dire situations such as this is crucial. But the truth remains that children are starving, needlessly, while aid struggles to reach them. [Read: 'In three months, half of them will be dead'] In response to the developments in Gaza, the children's entertainer Rachel Accurso, known to babies and toddlers the world over as 'Ms. Rachel,' made an emotional plea in a video posted to her Instagram earlier this week. (The video, which referred to the inaccurate 14,000-babies stat, no longer appears on her page.) While holding her own round-cheeked baby daughter, she showed a disturbing photo of a gaunt Palestinian baby, whose each and every rib was visible under her skin. 'Dear world leaders, please help this baby,' Accurso said. 'Please, please look at her; just please look in her eyes for one minute.' Accurso has been an outspoken advocate for Palestinian children, who have suffered at such a scale that in December 2023, UNICEF called Gaza 'the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.' Her focus on children is apt: Nearly half of Gaza's population is children—and children are especially vulnerable to malnutrition. Yet she has faced backlash for her statements; last month, a pro-Israel group called for the Department of Justice to investigate whether she was working for Hamas. ('This accusation is not only absurd, it's patently false,' she told The New York Times.) Online commenters have accused her of focusing on Palestinians to the exclusion of Israeli children. (She has not ignored Israeli children—she has shared sympathetic posts about the effects of Hamas's October 7 attacks on children. 'I'm thinking not only of the Israeli children taken hostage,' she wrote recently, 'but also those who witnessed horrific acts of violence that day—their innocence stolen in an instant.') In an interview with the journalist Mehdi Hasan, Accurso said, 'It's sad that people try to make it controversial when you speak out for children that are facing immeasurable suffering.' That a person whose job is to care about children should be criticized for caring about children is ludicrous. It should not need to be said, and it should not be controversial to say it, but: Starving children is wrong. If pointing that out lands you in hot water, that is a symptom of something deeply broken in our culture. Everyone should care if children are needlessly suffering, wherever they are suffering. If or when the aid sitting in those trucks reaches the Palestinian people, it will go only a fraction of the way toward addressing widespread hunger. What the food-security report released earlier this month actually stated is that the entire population of Gaza is food insecure. It also estimated that from May to September of this year, nearly 470,000 people will experience 'catastrophic food insecurity,' meaning that more than 1 in 5 will face starvation if the situation doesn't change. Nearly 71,000 children under 5 and nearly 17,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women were projected to need treatment for 'acute malnutrition' between April of this year and March 2026. (Of those 71,000 children, 14,100 cases—the figure that the UN official seems to have mis-cited—are projected to be 'severe.') According to The New York Times, Israel has publicly claimed that its blockade in Gaza was not a threat to civilians. In a statement on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had sent 92,000 aid trucks into Gaza since October 7, 2023. 'More than enough food to feed everyone in Gaza,' he said. This claim contradicts statements from the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and multiple international aid organizations that hunger in the region is at crisis levels. And anonymous Israeli-military sources told the Times that, in private, some officials have admitted that food is running out. Israel has also said that it started the blockade in part because it believed Hamas was stealing aid and using it to fuel its fight—an accusation Hamas has denied. Netanyahu also asserted on Thursday that Israel had 'devised a mechanism' with U.S. allies in which 'American companies will distribute the food directly to Palestinian families,' in 'safe zones secured' by the Israeli military. The UN has criticized the plan on the grounds that, among other things, it amounts to forced displacement, requiring Palestinians to relocate in order to access aid. The grim reality that war is hell does not mean that anyone should accept mass starvation among children, anywhere, as inevitable. And we should certainly not accept it when available food is kept from children's reach. (We should be just as alarmed that the United States is contributing to global malnutrition in its own way: By gutting agencies such as USAID, the country has disrupted the flow of assistance that previously went to malnourished children around the world, including the supply of a vital nutritional paste. According to the WHO, nearly half of all deaths among children under 5 globally are attributed to malnutrition.) Even before Israel's blockade of Gaza, getting lifesaving aid to starving children and their families in the Strip was difficult. The UN's former emergency-relief coordinator has described the task as 'in all practical terms, impossible.' Trucks carrying supplies have had limited points of entry, faced long waits at the border and looting, and been unable to be sure of safe passage if they do get into the region. Israeli fire has hit aid convoys on multiple occasions and killed many humanitarian workers. (Earlier this year, Israel disputed the UN's figures on the rate at which aid was entering Gaza. But Israel's own numbers fell far short of the amount of aid required to meet basic food needs, as estimated by the World Food Programme.) [David A. Graham: A deadly strike in Gaza] The trucks let in so far are addressing only a drop in the ocean of need—and the decision to allow them through cannot be described as a good-faith effort to prevent a potential famine. Rather, comments made by Netanyahu suggest that this was a concession made to retain the support of Israel's allies, including the United States. The Washington Post recently reported that in a video of Netanyahu posted to social media, he said that 'we cannot reach a point of starvation, for practical and diplomatic reasons.' His professed concern seemed to be not that people are starving, but that allies had told him they 'could not 'handle pictures of mass starvation,'' the Post reported. In her Instagram post, Accurso asked viewers to think of children they knew and loved. She said of Gaza's children: 'If you're not going to stand up for them, you might as well come out and say you don't see them like you see our kids.' Another icon of children's TV, the late, great Mister Rogers, famously said that when we see scary things in the news, we should 'look for the helpers.' In Gaza, we know where the helpers are. They're right there at the gates, trying to get in. Article originally published at The Atlantic
