Rula Jebreal was born in Haifa, Israel, and grew up in East Jerusalem. Her father brought her to the Dar Al Tifel orphanage at the age of 5 after the death of her mother, where she studied and graduated with a scholarship from the Italian government to study medicine. She received a degree in physiotherapy from Bologna University, but went back to school there for a second degree in journalism and political science. Jebreal immediately began working for such newspapers as Il Resto del Carlino, Il Giorno e La Nazione and Il Messaggero. Her area of expertise is foreign affairs related to the Arab Israeli conflict and the uprising of Islamic movements, having lived at the center of it for so many years in East Jersualem.
In 2000, the combination of her strong personality and charisma led to her first job as an on-air reporter, and she quickly became the first foreign anchorwoman broadcasting the 8pm news in the history of Italian television.
In 2004, Jebreal started her own daily talk show for Italian television, Ominibus, where she interviewed such prestigious global personalities as Silvio Berlusconi, Bill Gates, ex-prime minister Massimo D’Alema, president of the Italian