Cenk Uygur, the uncle of anti-American streamer and Abdul El-Sayed campaign surrogate Hasan Piker, is behind an ad supporting El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race that blames Israel for high grocery prices in the United States and accuses El-Sayed's Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, of dual loyalties. One Jewish leader denounced the spot as a "case study in antisemitism."
Rebellion PAC, an outside group that says it's "united in the fight against a rigged system," released the 90-second ad this weekend in collaboration with Uygur's media company The Young Turks. It depicts a couple in a grocery store linking the price of eggs and bananas in the United States to Israel and the war on Iran. "We have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians," the woman says as her husband picks up a carton of eggs. The ad closes with photos of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders of the Jewish state as a narrator says, "Mike Rogers is for they/them, Abdul El-Sayed is for you," mimicking an ad Republicans ran against Kamala Harris in 2024 that highlighted her support for taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries.
The ad also notes that Israel has a universal health care system. "We're paying for that, too, probably," the woman featured in the ad says without any basis in fact. Israel levies a progressive health insurance tax on citizens. The system is also covered by general government tax revenues.
Uygur is featured on Rebellion PAC's website, where he outlines "The 6 policies of the Populist Plank" in a video posted to The Young Turks' YouTube page. He is also a partner at Rad Ads, the firm that produced the grocery store spot. Uygur touted it on social media over the weekend, writing that "we have to suffer here at home, so Israel can get all its wars." He went on to solicit donations for Rebellion PAC to "help us run this ad more in Michigan." The PAC paid $3,000 to The Young Turks on October 19 for "social media advertising," according to campaign filings.
The ad prompted condemnations from Jewish leaders. Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called it "desperate" and "a case study in antisemitism." Former president Barack Obama's ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, also addressed the ad in a tweet, writing that it's "entirely possible to oppose aid to Israel … without promoting the fiction that such aid, or Israel itself, is responsible for what Americans pay for their groceries."
Rebellion PAC's cofounder, former Democratic congressional candidate Brianna Wu, blasted the "awful" ad and said, "I've not worked with Rebellion for years. I would have quit as executive director rather than produce this." El-Sayed's primary opponent, congresswoman Haley Stevens, joined the pile-on hours later, writing, "This type of fearmongering about Israel is wrong. It is not a winning strategy for any state. It does nothing to help Michigan Democrats win up and down the ballot in eight days."
The ad marks the latest instance of El-Sayed's far-left supporters sparking controversy and inflaming Jewish Americans.
El-Sayed has faced intense criticism for his association with Uygur's nephew, Piker, who has argued that "America deserved 9/11," that Israel is "much worse" than Hamas, and that America is responsible for more terrorism than al-Qaeda. El-Sayed invited Piker to campaign with him during the primary election but has since dismissed him as a "streamer in California." El-Sayed has also campaigned with Uygur, speaking alongside him at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention in September. Uygur himself has embraced the debunked conspiracy theory that Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks.
Rebellion PAC and the El-Sayed campaign did not respond to requests for comment. The campaign told Jewish Insider that the "ad is not affiliated in any way with the Abdul for Senate campaign" but did not disavow the spot.
Though Uygur's ad suggests that a dozen eggs cost $7—and that Israel is responsible for the price—egg prices have dropped since President Donald Trump took office, falling from an average price of $4.95 per dozen in January 2025 to $2.27 in August 2026, NPR reported. The recovery of U.S. flocks from an avian flu outbreak, rather than aid to Israel, explains the price fluctuation.
Also affiliated with Rebellion PAC and Rad Ads is the former left-wing House candidate Kara Eastman of Nebraska.
Eastman, who also worked for Uygur's failed 2024 presidential campaign, ran for Nebraska's Second Congressional District in 2018 and 2020. She was endorsed by Obama, socialist Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, and mainstream Democratic organizations like Planned Parenthood and the gun control groups Giffords and Everytown for Gun Safety. She lost her 2018 race to Republican congressman Don Bacon by 2 points and lost again by a slightly larger margin in 2020.
Obama, who campaigned for El-Sayed in Michigan over the weekend, endorsed Eastman in her 2020 race as a part of a slate of "thoughtful, empathetic, and highly qualified Democrats."
Rebellion PAC works closely with The Young Turks to boost other Democratic candidates. The PAC's website features interviews that Uygur conducted with left-wing Democrats Ro Khanna, Chris Rabb, and Adam Hamawy. The group also supports Iowa Senate candidate Josh Turek, who has cast himself as a moderate. Turek's campaign did not respond to questions about Rebellion PAC's tactics.
Rebellion PAC has raised around $400,000 this election cycle, mostly through smaller donations. Elizabeth Bagley, who served as ambassador to Brazil under former president Joe Biden, donated $600 to Rebellion PAC, and Jennifer Pritzker, the billionaire cousin of Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker (D.), contributed $565 to the organization.
