Rula Jebreal Is Not Alone

Rula Jebreal was born of a Nigerian father and mother raised in Palestine. She is described by Wikipedia as "a Palestinian foreign policy analyst, journalist, novelist, and screenwriter with dual Israeli and Italian citizenship."  To her credit, she is not a Johnny-come-lately. As longtime country singer Barbara Mandrell (in a different vein) would have put it, Jebreal was anti-Semitic when anti-Semitism wasn't cool.  But this obsession with hating Jews- uh, her, "AIPAC"- now has gotten out of hand.

How is it that, of all the words in your vocabulary to express dissent against Hakeem Jeffries you landed on “monkey”??? And is it suddenly acceptable because you stuck “AIPAC” in front of it? Enlighten us all, @rulajebreal! https://t.co/EbVUJ3M2ng

— Yemisi Egbewole (@yemisi) September 4, 2026

Jebreal's statement about House Minority Leader Jeffries was

His name is Hakeem. Hakeem in Arabic is an Arabic name which means healer. He’s not a healer. He’s a divider. He is a bought and paid, by AIPAC, monkey. With all due respect, and I don’t mean it in a racist way, he is just basically an errand boy. And we’re done and tired of that.

This doesn't sound as if it was deliverd with due respect  Additionally, calling someone black a "monkey" sounds rather racist. Jebreal understood that ("I don' tmean it in a racist way") as she spoke the words and likely believed she had erred when she did so. After she- and the host, who found it acceptable- received blistering criticism on X, Jebreal responded.

I am disgusted and horrified that Hakeem Jeffries is taking money from AIPAC amidst Israel's genocide in Palestine.
That said, a term that I used to describe him was inappropriate and offensive and should never have been used.
I apologize unconditionally.

— Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) September 4, 2026

Jebreal did apologize "unconditionally" for making a racist remark. She not only stated the obvious- that it was "offensive"- but more importantly that it was inappropriate and "should never have been used". ("Errand boy," though, is an old-school slang term which is highly derogatory but unrelated to race.)

Yet, there was something lacking in the apology. Self-described "'apologetically Jewish' author" Trisha Posner notes 

This is not a “Palestinian journalist” born and raised and working in the Middle East who might not understand the sensitivity of this attack on the House minority leader.

It is not a slip when she slurs a Black Democrat:

“He is a bought and paid by AIPAC monkey. With all due respect — and I don’t mean it in a racist way. He is just basically an errand boy, and we’re done and tired.”

 What she means is she’s sorry for any Black insult, she meant it only in her more typical anti-Jewish way.

Posner observed that Jebreal was arguing that the top-ranking House Democrat is an AIPAC toady. Increasingly, everything Israel is AIPAC and "AIPAC" is a diplomatic way of saying "Jew."  That's not true of everyone anti-Israel, of course. However, it's true of enough of them to be a major phenomenon.

And who are these people? Jebreal, Wajahat Ali (the podcaster of the show Jebreal appeared on), Mehdi Hasan, Hasan Piker, Karishma Manzur, and even influencers who are not Muslim have taken on the cause of hating Jews. 

The non-Muslim opponents of Zionism, however, need to be wary. They are typically left-of-center, including on matters of same-sex marriage, divorce, abortion, and other issues sex- or gender- related. 

Most of the Muslims who are allies on Palestine/Israel are laser-focused on that issue and will not hesitate to sell out allies  There are wolves in sheep's clothing and as suggested by Rula Jebreal's charge, more here than in most.

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