Children’s YouTuber star Ms. Rachel accused celebrities and leaders of racism on Saturday for remaining silent about Palestinian children killed in Gaza, claiming the lack of public advocacy reflected a racial double standard in how children’s lives are valued.
Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, directly accused those who have not spoken publicly about the war of treating Palestinian children differently because of their race.
“They probably would say something if these kids were White and from a different place. Please stop being racist and risk something,” Accurso said on Instagram.
The accusation came less than two weeks after podcaster Avi Lichtschein confronted Accurso over her repeated characterization of Israel’s war against Hamas as a “genocide.”
Lichtschein told Fox News Digital that even if Accurso’s advocacy comes from concern for children, her enormous platform requires her to consider the impact of the rhetoric she promotes.
“When you have an audience as enormous as hers, you have a responsibility to understand the consequences of the claims you’re amplifying,” Lichtschein said.
Accurso divided celebrities and leaders into two groups: those willing to speak publicly about Palestinian children and those she claimed were deliberately remaining silent because they placed less value on their lives.
“Those who are willing to shout at the top of their lungs that over 20,000 Palestinian children shouldn’t have been killed in the Gaza genocide and those that remain silent because these children are not worth it to them,” Accurso said. “I see that you have a hierarchy of children’s lives.”
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A June report from the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry said at least 20,179 Palestinian children had been killed and 44,143 injured between the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the commission’s reporting period through March 31.
The commission accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting children and concluded the conduct formed part of what it characterized as genocide.
The commission’s previous findings also documented Hamas’ treatment of Israeli children on Oct. 7, saying 40 Israeli children were killed, hundreds were injured and children were deliberately abducted during the terrorist attack.
Israel has rejected the commission’s findings and its methodology. In its formal response to the June report, the Israeli government said the commission’s composition, mandate and methodology were fundamentally flawed and accused the document of containing extensive errors and omissions.
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Accurso has faced increasing scrutiny over her Israel-related activism.
Fox News Digital reported in January that Accurso appeared to like an Instagram comment reading, “Free America from the Jews.” Accurso apologized and said she accidentally liked the comment while attempting to delete it.
In a statement provided directly to Fox News Digital after that controversy, Accurso rejected antisemitism and maintained that her advocacy was rooted in concern for people regardless of background.
“Antisemitism and hate of any kind have no place in my life or my work,” Accurso said.
Accurso previously said she was “horrified by October 7” and rejected accusations that her advocacy for Palestinian children meant she cared less about Israeli children.
Last month, during her encounter with Lichtschein, she maintained that she was not anti-Israel and described her opposition as directed at the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Elizabeth Barcohana, the California Republican Party’s Jewish engagement chair told Fox News Digital on Sunday that Ms. Rachel’s outrage was “fake” and selective, while also saying the children’s educator was “sanitizing terrorism.”
“The source of her figure of 20,000 child deaths comes directly from the ‘Gaza Ministry of Health,’ which is Hamas itself, meaning, Ms. Rachel has appointed herself to be a mouthpiece for a terrorist organization,” she added. “Further, the figure does not distinguish between innocent children and the minor male teens we know fight for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad; nor does it distinguish deaths caused by Israeli strikes in which there were human-shield civilian casualties from Palestinian rockets, Hamas/PIJ explosives, friendly fire, or other internal violence.”
“Ms. Rachel is essentially sanitizing terrorism with false and misleading information to emotionally manipulate her very impressionable following and those around her in her industry. This is very dangerous, and every mother whose child watches Ms. Rachel videos must be made aware of who she really is,” Barcohana said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Federations of North America for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
