Ms. Rachel Faces Criticism After 2025 Gaza Clip Resurfaces

Children's YouTube star Ms. Rachel faced fresh trouble on Sunday when a clip from 2025 resurfaced just days after Motaz Azaiza admitted to holding back footage of Israeli hostages beaten by a crowd in Gaza during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. The short video shows Ms. Rachel introducing Azaiza to her young viewers while teaching the letter "M." She says hi and calls him her friend before ending the segment with a cheerful bye. Her real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso.

The clip first appeared on Instagram and was taken down later, according to reports from July 2025. Azaiza gathered millions of followers by documenting the war in Gaza. He greeted Ms. Rachel briefly within the footage. The video gained new weight after Azaiza described his actions during the Hamas-led assault in a long interview with journalist Ahmed al-Biqawi on the Arabic-language Taqarrab podcast. He explained that he followed a vehicle carrying captives and filmed as a crowd assaulted them.

Azaiza stated he did not publish the video because he feared it would endanger Palestinians involved. I saw the vehicle of the Al-Qassam Brigades and there were Israeli captives there, Azaiza said in the interview. People got out, watched, beat them, hit them, and I followed them and filmed. But I did not publish those videos. Why? Because I did not want to ruin the lives of the people who were filmed.

He explained that he believed Israeli authorities could use the footage to identify Palestinians appearing in the clips. I understood that Israel would use those videos to identify every person who was there and eliminate them, Azaiza said. I did not want to be responsible even indirectly for the deaths of those people in exchange for a few likes and views online.

Azaiza also criticized Hamas and outlined strict rules facing journalists inside Gaza. He noted that photographers learned to lower their cameras when Palestinians criticized Hamas because showing such dissent could lead to retaliation. Despite describing himself as a supporter of armed Palestinian resistance, Azaiza said Hamas actions failed to protect people living in Gaza. I support armed resistance but one that brings results or at least gives me the feeling my life is valuable in the eyes of the resistance, he told the interviewer. Why should a Palestinian be cheap in the eyes of Palestinians themselves? You are making people hate the resistance with your own hands.

His profile rose sharply after the war began. Time named him to its 2024 list of the world's 100 most influential people for his photographs documenting Gaza. Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, told Fox News Digital that Azaiza's disclosure raised questions about his journalistic judgment and his decision to withhold the footage. After years spent claiming to share what was happening in Gaza unfiltered, Azaiza revealed he hid footage not per journalistic norms to protect victims from further harm but because he did not want Israel to arrest the perpetrators. Innocent civilians had been kidnapped already sexually abused and his concern was with the people that beat them and rejoiced at Hamas's crimes.

That speaks volumes about his journalism and his moral character," Menken said.

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Accurso has grown increasingly vocal regarding the situation in Gaza.

Last week she took aim at celebrities and other public figures who stayed quiet while Palestinian children suffered. She claimed these people applied a racial double standard to their silence.

"They probably would say something if these kids were White and from a different place," Accurso stated directly. "Please stop being racist and risk something."

Elizabeth Barcohana serves as the Jewish engagement chair for the California Republican Party. She told Fox News Digital that she believed Accurso was sharing false information with her large audience. Barcohana argued this misinformation misled people about the conflict.

She described Ms. Rachel as essentially sanitizing terrorism through emotionally manipulative tactics. These claims targeted both the influencers followers and those working within her industry.

Fox News Digital reached out to Ms. Rachel for comment on these serious allegations. They have not yet received an immediate response from her team.