A political ad linked grocery prices to money spent “killing Palestinians,” and it has been viewed more than five million times before anyone checked the math.
Story Snapshot
- Rebellion PAC released a Michigan Senate ad showing a couple who can’t afford groceries, blaming U.S. aid to Israel for the cost.
- Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League called the ad scapegoating; a former U.S. ambassador said criticizing aid is different from blaming grocery prices on it.
- Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign disavowed the ad, and no evidence shows he approved it.
- The ad landed in a Michigan Senate race already split over Gaza, with Jewish voters torn between El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers.
- The ad was paid for independently and fronted by commentator Cenk Uygur, who said Israel “buy[s] politicians like Mike Rogers.”
A Supermarket Scene Turns Into a National Flashpoint
The advertisement, released October 26, 2026, shows a couple shopping for groceries. One tells the other to put eggs back because “we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians.” The ad then cites $4 billion in annual U.S. aid to Israel and mentions American funding tied to Israeli health care. It was created by Rebellion PAC, co-founded by commentator Cenk Uygur, to support Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate bid.
Jewish Leaders Call It Scapegoating
Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt called the ad “another example of scapegoating the Jewish state.” The American Jewish Committee said Americans need “real solutions, not misinformation blaming support for Israel for their economic challenges”. Former U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro drew a sharper line, saying people can oppose aid to Israel “on moral, foreign policy, or financial grounds” without claiming that aid explains what Americans pay for groceries.
The Times of Israel reported the ad had been viewed more than five million times, giving the disputed claims a massive audience before any fact-check caught up. That speed matters. Once a message this provocative spreads, corrections rarely travel as far or as fast as the original clip, leaving millions of viewers with the first version of the story stuck in their heads.
El-Sayed Distances Himself, But Questions Linger
The El-Sayed campaign publicly rejected the ad, and reporting found no evidence he created, approved, or even knew about it before release. That disavowal matters for fairness. Blaming a candidate for an independent group’s ad, without proof of coordination, risks turning a legitimate critique of the ad’s content into an attack on the candidate himself, something his supporters have pushed back on hard.
Still, the ad’s defenders argue it targets U.S. foreign policy, not Jews. Uygur framed it as an attack on Republican Mike Rogers, saying Israel “buy[s] politicians like Mike Rogers” who promised to serve Israel “unconditionally” instead of Michigan voters. The ad’s disclaimer stated it was not authorized by any candidate, underscoring its status as an independent expenditure rather than official campaign material.
Where Criticism of Israel Crosses a Line
International guidelines on antisemitism, including the widely used International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, state that criticizing Israel “similar to that leveled against any other country” is not antisemitic. But the same framework warns that invoking collective Jewish power or disloyalty crosses into different territory. The dispute here is whether tying grocery prices directly to Israel, rather than to Congress or U.S. budget choices, fits that warning.
No poll or study has measured how most viewers actually interpreted the ad, whether as criticism of Israeli policy, U.S. spending choices, or Jews broadly. That gap leaves plenty of room for both sides to claim the moral high ground. What is clear is that this fight landed in a Michigan Senate race already strained by Gaza, with Jewish voters divided, some rejecting both El-Sayed and Rogers over concerns about either candidate’s rhetoric.
A Deeper Trust Problem
This episode fits a pattern voters across the spectrum already distrust: political operations using emotionally charged, oversimplified claims about cost-of-living pain to score points, rather than offering straight answers on budgets and spending. Whether or not the ad’s creators intended to target Jews collectively, its rapid, unchecked spread shows how campaign messaging can outrun the facts meant to anchor it, leaving voters more confused and more divided than informed.
Brad Schneider says El-Sayed must ‘publicly condemn’ ‘gross, antisemitic’ ad
Every Democrat should say the same thing. Especially those arm-twisting Michigan Jews to vote for a Jew hater.https://t.co/tsY81rnxK9
— L’Etat C’est Moi (@letat_lechat) October 28, 2026
Sources:
pbs.org, jta.org, jewishinsider.com, ms.now
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