Cenk Uygur’s Rebellion PAC Posts a Grocery-Store Ad Backing El-Sayed (“for killing Palestinians”); the El-Sayed Campaign Says It Is “Not Affiliated”; Uygur Is Hasan Piker’s Uncle, and No Source Read Ties Piker to the Ad

Rebellion PAC, which commentator Cenk Uygur fronts, released a grocery-store ad that Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported on Oct. 26, 2026, and the El-Sayed campaign said the ad “is not affiliated in any way” with it.

The ad

JTA describes a couple in a supermarket saying they cannot afford groceries because they have to set money aside “for killing Palestinians.” It repurposes an ad originally released in 2024 for Uygur’s presidential campaign, with a new ending. The new ending asks, “Why does Mike Rogers care so much about what Israelis want and so little about what you want?” and a voiceover says, over photos of Israeli politicians Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, “Mike Rogers is for they/them.” (JTA reads that line as referring to Israelis; the quoted words do not say so.)

Sequence

• The Friday before: Jewish Insider, in an Oct. 26 article, says Uygur posted the ad on X “on Friday,” writing, “We have to suffer here at home, so Israel can get all its wars.” A day later he made an appeal for funding to run it more widely. That makes the post date the Friday before the Oct. 26 reports; no source read gives it as a calendar date, and the desk’s note of a Saturday post does not match this.
• Oct. 26: the El-Sayed campaign statement and the JTA and Jewish Insider reports. Campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner: “No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign.” JTA reports the campaign did not address how El-Sayed viewed the messaging behind the ad. Uygur answered critics on X: “If you think this ad is antisemitic, you’re in a cult and don’t know it.”
• Critics, attributed: Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called it a “case study in antisemitism”; Rep. Haley Stevens called it “fearmongering.”

Who paid and how far it ran

A Rebellion PAC spokesperson told JTA the group is spending $1,000 on the ad and that it will run online. Jewish Insider reports the group spent $10,000 on texting advertisements and $1,000 on digital advertising for El-Sayed in recent weeks. The FEC’s 2026 independent-expenditure bulk file lists both payments, but with the support/oppose code O (oppose) against Mike Rogers rather than support for El-Sayed: a $1,000 “Digital advertising” payment to Digital Strategy Group LLC obligated 22-OCT-26 and a $10,000 “Texting media advertisement” payment obligated 15-OCT-26. Both predate the Friday post, so neither can be identified as the grocery ad’s buy.

The campaign’s words, and the verbs

The sources use different verbs for the same statement. JTA: the campaign “disavowed” the ad. Jewish Insider: it “distanced itself.” Free Beacon: it “did not disavow.” The campaign’s own words, in every source read, are “not affiliated” and “no one speaks for Abdul”; none quotes El-Sayed himself on the ad’s content. Whether he later condemned it is in 2026-10-30–stevens-conditions-unity-event-on-el-sayed-condemning-rebellion-pac-ad-el-sayed-statement-does-not-mention-it-campaign-asks-her-to-stay-away.

The Uygur-Piker tie

Michigan Advance writes that Uygur is Hasan Piker’s uncle, and Wikipedia’s Piker article states the same. That is a family relationship. The sources read give no statement, filing, or credit tying Piker to making, paying for, or endorsing the ad; the Free Beacon headline naming Piker’s uncle rests on the relationship alone. Michigan Advance reports the campaign said no outside entity speaks for it, naming neither Uygur nor Piker in that paraphrase, as Michigan Advance put it. Separately, CNN reports El-Sayed appeared with Piker at multiple events before the August primary. No Piker statement on the ad was found.

Open

• A transcript or the video itself: the quotes above are JTA’s.
• Whether any FEC filing reports spending on the grocery ad itself.
• Rebellion PAC’s next FEC report, to see whether the grocery ad’s spending is reported.
• Rebellion PAC cofounder Brianna Wu told Jewish Insider she has not been involved with Rebellion PAC since 2022.