{"id":215899,"date":"2026-09-05T06:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/215899\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T06:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:12:14","slug":"palestinian-journalist-rula-jebreal-calls-hakeem-jeffries-an-aipac-monkey-claims-she-didnt-mean-it-in-a-racist-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/215899\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal calls Hakeem Jeffries an \u2018AIPAC monkey\u2019\u00a0 \u2013 claims she didn\u2019t mean it in a \u2018racist way\u2019\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal took heat from black lawmakers Friday after she referred to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)<\/a> as an \u201cAIPAC monkey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jebreal<\/a> used the racial epithet during an appearance on lefty commentator Wajahat Ali\u2019s \u201cThe Left Hook\u201d podcast, as she criticized the black Democrat\u2019s support for Israel and accused him of doing the bidding of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee<\/a> (AIPAC).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis name is Hakeem. \u2018Hakeem\u2019 is an Arabic name which means \u2018healer.\u2019 He\u2019s not a healer, he\u2019s a divider,\u201d Jebreal raged.<\/p>\n

\"PalestinianPalestinian journalist and writer Rula Jebreal took heat after calling House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries an \u201cAIPAC monkey.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a bought and paid by AIPAC monkey,\u201d she continued. \u201cWith all due respect \u2014 and I don\u2019t mean it in a racist way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is just basically an errand boy, and we\u2019re done and tired,\u201d Jebreal said.<\/p>\n

After Jabreal\u2019s rant, Ali interjected<\/a> to note that using the term \u201cmonkey\u201d has \u201cterrible racial connotations \u2026 but I think you caught yourself and said you didn\u2019t mean it with any racial animosity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jabreal attempted to clarify: \u201cThere are these three monkeys \u2013 one, I cannot hear, I cannot see, I cannot speak \u2013 it reminds me of these three monkeys.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) rejected Jebreal\u2019s defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be clear, there isn\u2019t a non-racist way to call Leader Jeffries\u2014a Black man\u2014a \u2018monkey\u2019 or \u2018errand boy,\u2019\u201d the group posted on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"HouseHouse Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was defended black lawmakers after being called an \u201cAIPAC monkey.\u201d ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

The caucus also slammed Ali, a critic of Israel, writing, \u201cthis is what happens when we hold ourselves to such low standards for what\u2019s allowable in our discourse \u2014 people get comfortable being openly bigoted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to stop platforming and trafficking in anti-Black racism, whether it\u2019s on the political right or the left,\u201d the CBC added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rep, Ritchie Torres (D-NY) similarly argued<\/a> in an X post that \u201ccalling a Black man a \u2018monkey\u2019 is racist. Full stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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,\u201d the black congressman added. \u201cThe silence is deafening.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Jebreal later issued a backhanded apology on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am disgusted and horrified that Hakeem Jeffries\u00a0is taking money from AIPAC amidst Israel\u2019s genocide in Palestine,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThat said, a term that I used to describe him was inappropriate and offensive and should never have been used.<\/p>\n

\u201cI apologize unconditionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeffries\u2019 office did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal took heat from black lawmakers Friday after she referred to House Minority Leader Hakeem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[144],"tags":[2619,41956,485,243,51,546,1393,48],"class_list":["post-215899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hakeem-jeffries","tag-aipac","tag-congressional-black-caucus","tag-hakeem-jeffries","tag-israel","tag-politics","tag-racism","tag-us-house-of-representatives","tag-us-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117216959271425326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}