Rula Jebreal

In 2013, she married Arthur Altschul, Jr., son of banker Arthur Goodhart Altschul Sr. and a member of the Lehman family. She divorced Altschul in 2016.

Jebreal's second novel The Bride of Aswan was published in 2007. Her third book, Rejected, is a non-fiction study based on interviews with immigrants who have either made their way to successful careers in Italy or otherwise live on the margins of Italian society.

Her collaboration with Julian Schnabel on Miral, extended beyond the movie. Jebreal was in a relationship with him from 2007 to 2011.

Jebreal worked as a journalist in Italy for twelve years. In 2006 she worked with Michele Santoro as an interviewer on AnnoZero, a political television show in Italy.

Jebreal first novel Miral was published in 2003. The film version, adapted by Jebreal, and directed by Julian Schnabel, was first released in 2010.

In 1993, she received a scholarship from the Italian government to study at the University of Bologna, where she graduated with a degree in physiotherapy.

Jebreal was born in Haifa, Israel, to Nigeria-born Sufi imam Othman Jebreal and Zakia, and grew up in Jerusalem. Her father was an imam and groundskeeper at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Her mother, who suffered from severe abuse in her childhood, committed suicide by walking into the sea and drowning when Jebreal was 5. She and her sister Rania were put into the Dar El-Tifel orphanage by their father, in 1978, until 1991. She was raised in the orphanage, and regards its founder, Hind Husseini, as her teacher and mother, crediting her with saving her life.

Rula Jebreal (Arabic: رولا جبريل ‎, Hebrew: רולא ג'בריל ‎; born April 24, 1973) is an Israeli Arab foreign policy analyst, journalist, novelist and screenwriter with dual Israeli and Italian citizenship. She was a commentator for MSNBC.