Palestinian Journalist Under Fire After Calling Hakeem Jeffries an ‘AIPAC Monkey’ [WATCH]

Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal sparked fierce backlash Friday after calling House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries an “AIPAC monkey” during a podcast appearance.

Her attempt to deny any racist intent did little to contain the uproar over language aimed at a Black lawmaker.

Jebreal made the remark while appearing on leftist commentator Wajahat Ali’s podcast, “The Left Hook.”

The discussion centered on Jeffries, a New York Democrat, his support for Israel, and his relationship with the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.

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The journalist began by invoking the meaning of Jeffries’ first name before accusing him of dividing people.

“His name is Hakeem. ‘Hakeem’ is an Arabic name which means ‘healer.’ He’s not a healer; he’s a divider,” Jebreal raged.

Her rhetoric then took a far uglier turn. “He is a bought and paid by AIPAC monkey,” she declared while accusing the House Democratic leader of carrying out the organization’s wishes.

Jebreal immediately insisted that she did not mean the insult in a racist fashion, as though a disclaimer could magically erase the words that had just left her mouth.

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She continued her attack by saying, “He is just basically an errand boy, and we’re done and tired.”

WATCH:

Calling Hakeem Jeffries an “AIPAC monkey,” “errand boy,” or saying he is “bought and paid” is unacceptable, dehumanizing, and racist. A disclaimer doesn’t erase the harm.

You can criticize leadership, or donors without resorting to this type of rhetoric. pic.twitter.com/iXSpUvTNk6

— Candidly Tiff (@tify330) September 4, 2026

Ali recognized the obvious problem with using that term against a Black man.

He noted that the word has “terrible racial connotations … but I think you caught yourself and said you didn’t mean it with any racial animosity.”

Rather than plainly retracting the comment, Jebreal offered an explanation involving the familiar image of three monkeys who cannot hear, see, or speak.

That clarification failed to persuade critics who saw the remark as a straightforward racial insult wrapped in activist outrage.

The Congressional Black Caucus quickly rejected Jebreal’s excuse.

The group said there was no acceptable or nonracist way to call Jeffries, a Black man, either a monkey or an errand boy.

The caucus also criticized Ali for allowing such rhetoric to appear on his platform.

In its statement, the group warned that weak standards for public discourse create an environment where “people get comfortable being openly bigoted.”

Members of the caucus called for an end to promoting and spreading racism against Black Americans, regardless of whether it comes from the political right or the left.

That last part is likely to make some progressive activists squirm, since ideological allies do not usually receive equal scrutiny.

Representative Ritchie Torres, another New York Democrat and a vocal supporter of Israel, delivered an equally blunt response. “calling a Black man a ‘monkey’ is racist. Full stop,” Torres wrote on X.

Torres also pointed directly at the ideological double standard surrounding the episode.

“If Wajahat Ali and Rula Jebreal were on the far right, no one on the far left would have any trouble condemning them for dehumanizing a Black man in racist terms,” he wrote.

“The silence is deafening,” Torres added.

His criticism highlighted how quickly some progressive voices denounce offensive rhetoric from conservatives, only to discover nuance, context, and convenient confusion when the offender emerges from their own political camp.

Jebreal later posted what amounted to a backhanded apology on X, beginning with another attack on Jeffries and AIPAC.

“I am disgusted and horrified that Hakeem Jeffries is taking money from AIPAC amidst Israel’s genocide in Palestine,” she wrote.

She then acknowledged that her language crossed the line.

“That said, a term that I used to describe him was inappropriate and offensive and should never have been used.”

The statement stopped short of offering Jeffries a direct and unqualified apology, instead preserving the political accusation that fueled the original rant.

It was the familiar progressive formula of expressing regret for wording while loudly reaffirming the grievance behind it.

Jeffries’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The controversy nevertheless left Democratic lawmakers confronting a familiar problem, inflammatory rhetoric from the activist left that becomes harder to excuse once it targets one of their own leaders.

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