Palestinian-Italian journalist Rula Jebreal called House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a bought-and-paid-for “AIPAC monkey” during a podcast appearance Friday, then apologized after facing swift condemnation from Democrats across the ideological spectrum. Jebreal also referred to Jeffries, who is Black, as an “errand boy” during the same conversation, a term lawmakers say carries its own painful history when aimed at Black public officials.
The remarks came during an appearance on “The Left Hook,” a podcast hosted by political commentator Wajahat Ali, according to The Jerusalem Post. Jebreal has said she did not mean the comment in a racist way, explaining that she was referring to the image of three monkeys representing the idiom that one cannot see, one cannot hear, and one cannot speak. She wrote that she was disgusted and horrified that Jeffries was taking money from AIPAC amid what she described as Israel's genocide in Palestine, per the same report.
Ali pushed back against Jebreal during the recording itself, telling her that the term monkey carries terrible racial connotations no matter the intent behind it. In a column published Saturday, Ali confirmed he raised the objection in real time and wrote that racially charged slurs carry profound historical harm regardless of context, according to The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali. Ali noted that Jebreal ultimately offered an unconditional apology, but said anti-Black language must be called out immediately rather than excused after the fact.
Jebreal Acknowledges the Term Was Offensive
Jebreal has acknowledged that the term she used to describe Jeffries was inappropriate and offensive, and she apologized unconditionally, per The Jerusalem Post. Her comments were aimed squarely at Jeffries' support for Israel and the money his campaign committees have received from AIPAC's political action committee, rather than at his race, according to her own explanation of the remark.
The Congressional Black Caucus rejected that defense outright. In a statement issued Saturday, the caucus said there isn't a non-racist way to call Leader Jeffries, a Black man, a monkey or an errand boy, as reported by i24NEWS. The caucus emphasized that lowering standards in political discourse allows people to grow comfortable displaying open bigotry regardless of their political affiliation, and it called for an immediate end to platforming anti-Black racism on both the political right and left.
Bipartisan and Cross-Ideological Condemnation
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) joined the caucus in condemning Jebreal, with Pressley stating that calling any Black man a monkey or errand boy is “absolutely disgusting and unacceptable under any circumstances,” i24NEWS reported. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), an outspoken pro-Israel Democrat who regularly clashes with progressive critics, went further, saying calling a Black man a monkey is racist, according to The Jerusalem Post. Torres also argued that if a far-right figure had used similarly dehumanizing language against a Black leader, the far left would have condemned it immediately, according to Israel Hayom.
What made the backlash notable is that it spanned both the centrist and progressive wings of the Democratic Party. Progressive lawmakers have frequently criticized Israel's war policies and the influence of pro-Israel donors in Democratic politics, but the condemnation of Jebreal's remarks showed no daylight between progressive and centrist Black lawmakers on the underlying language itself.
Why AIPAC Money Is Such a Flashpoint
The controversy lands atop a longer-running fight over AIPAC's financial footprint in House races. Federal Election Commission filings analyzed by Sludge show Jeffries received $250,000 in earmarked contributions through AIPAC's political action committee to his joint fundraising committee in February 2025 alone. In May 2026, AIPAC's PAC transferred $149,300 in earmarked contributions from a single donor to the Jeffries Battleground Protection Fund, which Sludge identified as the largest single earmarked disbursement in the history of AIPAC's political action committee. AIPAC made more than $12.7 million in PAC contributions to members of Congress and federal candidates in the first half of 2025 alone, per the same outlet's analysis of FEC records.
That spending has fueled deep resentment among pro-Palestinian activists and some progressive organizations. After Rep. Jamaal Bowman's June 2024 primary defeat, which followed nearly $20 million in spending against him by an AIPAC-affiliated super PAC, more than a dozen progressive organizations sent a formal letter urging Jeffries to cut ties with AIPAC, according to The Guardian. AIPAC and its affiliates planned to spend $100 million across the election cycle, the paper reported.
Jebreal's Background and the Broader Pattern
Jebreal is a Palestinian-Italian foreign policy analyst, author, and former MSNBC contributor who holds dual Israeli and Italian citizenship, according to the Center for International Policy. She currently serves as a visiting professor teaching communications and genocide studies at the University of Miami, and was raised in a Jerusalem orphanage before building an international career as a novelist and television analyst, per the same source.
This is not the first time this year that AIPAC-related remarks have generated fallout for public figures connected to Democratic politics — Hoodline previously reported on a Tampa gala speaker who backed out over similar comments. The episode also arrives amid ongoing scrutiny of Jeffries' standing with his party's progressive flank, following his high-profile deflection of a Medicare for All question last month.
